Ariana Grande Addresses Cultural Appropriation Claims: 'What Do You Want Me to Do?'
Ariana Grande has heard the claims that she has appropriated Japanese culture, and she has mixed feelings about them. Over the weekend, she tweeted responses to the widespread attention her misspelled Japanese tattoo received, as well as the accusations that she is exploiting Japanese culture by using Japanese characters as visuals for her music and on merchandise she sold on her site.
Grande has deleted all her tweets on the matter, except her first, in which she called out TMZ for tweeting that she was offered $1.5 million to remove her Japanese tattoo. "I’ll give y’all a million to get off my nuts," she wrote.
Oh No They Didn't and Buzzfeed posted screenshots of Grande's deleted tweets addressing her perceived cultural appropriation, which show Grande was frustrated by what she intended to be a mark of her appreciation for Japanese culture creating such a backlash.
Regarding the tattoo, she said, "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. 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." (Only one top that very subtly features Japanese characters remains in Grande's online store.)
In another response to fans that she has since taken down, Grande admitted that the feedback has been hard for her to take. "I have crippling anxiety lol. I don’t like hurtin ppl," she wrote. "People on this app really don’t know how to be forgiving or gentle when someone has made an innocent mistake. No one considers feelings other than their own. It’s very pointless. Ion [I don't] even know why I’m talking ab[out] this anymore."
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