Ariana Grande has found herself in hot water after saying Jeffrey Dahmer is her dream dinner party guest.
By now, we’ve all probably answered that dreaded ice-breaker question: “If you could invite anyone – dead or alive – to dinner, who would you pick?”
Of course, we’ve heard it all by now, from great world leaders to dead family relatives, all the way to famous celebrities and other loved ones, but one person’s shocking answer left fans scratching their heads.
Ariana Grande, best known for her hits ‘Into You,’ ‘Dangerous Woman’ and ‘we can’t be friends,’ opened up about the time she told a young fan that her ideal dinner guest would be none other than notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.
Credit: James Devaney/GC Images/Getty
During a recent episode of Podcrushed, the pop star opened up about her response, telling podcast co-hosts Penn Badgley, Nava Kavelin and Sophie Ansari that she used to be “infatuated with serial killers when [she] was younger.”
“It was in between me being Cat [in Nickelodeon’s Sam & Cat] and pop stuff, so it was like a younger group, and they were with parents, and someone said: ‘If you could have dinner with anyone living or or dead, who would it be?’” she recalled.
Grande continued: “I was like, ‘Oh, you’re so cute. Mom and Dad, is it OK if I give the real answer?’ And they were like ‘Sure, what’s the answer?’ and I was like, ‘I mean, Jeffrey Dahmer is pretty fascinating.’”
Dahmer was one of America’s most notorious serial killers and sex offenders, who murdered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991.
The killer lured mainly gay men to his home where he would assault and murder them, later dismembering their bodies in his apartment.
“I think I would have loved to have met him. Y’know, maybe with a third party or someone involved. But I have questions,” Grande continued.
While the 30-year-old’s choice of dinner guest ultimately made the podcast hosts laugh, at the time, the parents in attendance weren’t all that impressed.
“The parents were like, ‘We’ll explain it later, sweetie.’ And I was like, ‘I’ll just sing ‘Problem’ and go home,’” the musician recalled.
Credit: Curt Borgwardt/Sygma/Getty
Grande’s story has been slammed online, with many wondering why she was “joking” about a very serious situation.
“We are not joking about a serial killer who murdered with impunity because the police did not care about black men and gay men. Kindly f*** off!,” one user on Reddit wrote.
“She has such a weird fixation with this type of stuff. It is so tone deaf and dehumanizing/disrespectful to the victims and their loved ones,” another added.
A third also agreed writing: “Full f***** stop. Ain’t nothing cute, edgy, cool, or okay with saying this.”
Credit: Arturo Holmes/Getty
Over on X, the response was similar.
“ariana grande saying that she was infatuated with serial killers and that jeffrey dahmer is her dream dinner date. this is incredibly weird,” this user commented alongside a clip of the podcast.
“Why would she say that-” another X-user stated.
Grande has yet to address the backlash against her comments.