Recent security footage of pop star Ariana Grande licking donuts surfaced last week, followed by criticism regarding the singer’s apology that she was reportedly concerned for obesity in America when trying to explain her behavior.
YouTuber and all-around awesome person Meghan Tonjes released a video titled “Hate The Donut, Not The Fatty,” in order to address the Ariana Grande donut-incident.
“She went through this whole thing about being upset about the food industry and child obesity rates. Now let’s be honest, this was the classic ‘Don’t look at me. Look over there’ type situation,” explained Tonjes.
“She started off so good with the apology and then probably got to the point mid apology where she was like, ‘You know what, I don’t even know how to explain that I was making out with my boyfriend, and also making out with some donuts. So…Fat kids!’”
In the course of talking about Grande’s behavior, Tonjes addressed the issue of body-shaming, which is essentially what Grande unknowingly did in her apology.
“If I were 120 pounds eating a pizza in my underwear on Tumblr I would be ‘quirky,’ and ‘cute,’ and ‘real.’ But if I’m 300 pounds and I’m eating pizza in my underwear, people are like: ‘You’re killing yourself, you’re disgusting, you’re everything that’s wrong with America,” explained Tonjes.
An important problem that Tonjes points out in the video is society’s lack of understanding that people come from different backgrounds that can limit access to certain foods.
“Your access to food, nutrition, all of these things, there’s privilege in that. And you don’t know everyone’s story,” explained Tonjes.
At the end of the clip, Tonjes accepts the 22-year-old singer’s apology, even though the pop star may have lost many fans in the process.
“The thing is I don’t hate Ariana Grande. I totally accept her apology. I think she’s 22 and she messed up and she said something that she probably shouldn’t have and she was being filmed and she didn’t know it,” concluded Tonjes.
“I just wish that people remembered that fat people are people.”