Ariana Grande Defends Herself Over Cultural Appropriation Claims
LOS ANGELES, CA – JUNE 02: Ariana Grande in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)
Ariana Grande wants to make it clear: when it comes to her latest tattoo, she was simply trying to appreciate Japanese culture rather than appropriate it.
In a series of now-deleted tweets the “God Is a Woman” singer reportedly defended herself against critics who said that her now-infamous misspelled Japanese tattoo and the sale of merchandise with Japanese characters on her website were examples of cultural appropriation.
It all started last week when she debuted the new tat on her hand that intended to read “7 Rings,” which is the name of her new single. The tattoo contains the character for “seven” and “rings” but together, the characters translate to “shichirin,” which is a type of Japanese barbecue grill, Hollywood Life reports. Things only got worse when she attempted to have it corrected and changed it to “shichirin finger,” roughly translated.
Regarding the snafu, she reportedly Tweeted: “I also went back and got it fixed with the help of my tutor to be more accurate. I can’t read or write kanji obviously. What do you want me to do? It was done out of love and appreciation. What do you want me to say?”
“U kno how many people make this mistake and DON’T care just cause they like how it looks? Bruh… I care sooooo much,” she Tweeted. “What would u like me to do or say? Forreal. There is a difference between appropriation and appreciation. My Japanese fans were always excited when I wrote in Japanese or wore Japanese sayings on my clothing. However, all of the merch with Japanese on it was taken down from my site, not that anyone cared to notice.”
She added that she suffers from “crippling anxiety” trying to make everyone happy and feeling guilty that she let anyone down.
“[People] on this app really don’t know how to be forgiving or gentle when someone has made an innocent mistake,” she wrote. “No one considers feelings other than their own.”
Ariana also added that she has removed merchandise from her site that contains Japanese characters.
The singer did, however, leave one Tweet behind for her critics, especially TMZ:
https://twitter.com/ArianaGrande/status/1091779113470197760
