Ariana Grande Reacts To Pete Davidson’s ‘Unfortunate’ Manchester Bombing Joke

Ariana Grande has responded to reports that her fiancé, Pete Davidson, made an insensitive joke about the Manchester bombing while in a stand-up show last fall, calling his words "unfortunate."


The SNL star's joke resurfaced in a July 1 article from The Mirror, which stated that he mentioned the May 2017 tragedy that killed 22 people and injured hundreds would be used as proof of Grande's fame. "Britney Spears did not have a terrorist attack at her concert," he reportedly said.


Ever since, fans of the pop star haven't been laughing. As soon as one fan tweeted that Davidson's joke was "not funny, it's just rude," Grande recommended a considerate reply.


"This has been [very] tough & conflicting on my heart," she wrote. "He uses comedy to help ppl feel better [about] how f-ed up things in this world are. We all deal [with] trauma differently. I certainly didn’t find it funny. It was months back & his intention wasn’t/ is never malicious nevertheless it was unfortunate."


It makes sense that Davidson making light of the event could be hard to reconcile. Grande has been open about the distress she's felt ever since the terrorist attack — which took place at the end of her concert in May 2017 — and her path to understanding even helped inspire the upside-down aesthetic of her upcoming album, Sweetener.


At the same time, as Grande alludes to in her tweet, she is aware her comedian fiancé built his career by joking about sensitive topics — a pattern fueled by his own experience coping with tragedy. Davidson lost his father while in the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11, and he unapologetically told The New York Times in 2015, “There’s nothing I won’t joke about, and I think it’s because of what happened to me. That’s the worst thing that could ever happen to somebody. Right now it’s just like, ‘Who cares, man?’”


Whether Davidson will provide an apology for his Manchester joke remains to be seen, although hopefully Grande's explanation of how she's handling it may will help others reach their own peace.