When did Ariana Grande lick the donut? Singer's apology after saying "I hate America" explored

Ariana Grande has gained immense popularity in her career as a singer-songwriter. Alongside the popularity, she has also gotten involved in a few controversies. One such controversy dates back to 2015.

In 2015, Grande celebrated the Fourth of July with her then-boyfriend by visiting a donut place, where she licked some donuts that were arranged for display.

The incident, which was captured in the store's CCTV footage, later went viral, also capturing the Positions singer saying "I hate America" twice in the latter part of it. As more netizens checked it out, Ari received intense backlash online.

As a response to it, Ariana Grande shared an apology about the incident on X on July 8, 2015.

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Ariana Grande's donut-licking stunt took place at Wolfee Donuts in Lake Elsinore

The video of Ariana Grande's donut-licking stunt was shared by TMZ on July 7, 2015. In the video, Grande appeared in the Wolfee Donuts store in Lake Elsinore, California, with her boyfriend at the time, Ricky Alvarez, who was also her backup dancer at the time.

After Grande seemingly asked for donuts and the staff went in to fetch them, the couple dared each other to lick the toppings off the donuts kept on the counter for display. Later, both of them appeared to be licking the donuts when they thought no one was watching.

Another couple, who was also in the store, caught Alvarez licking a donut, at which Ari started laughing out loud. A little while after, Grande and Alvarez were also seen kissing each other, after which the singer seemed to whisper something in his ears as a staff member brought out a tray of donuts covered in chocolate, looking at which, Ariana Grande said:

"What the f*** is this? I hate America, I hate America. That is disgusting."

A day after the video shared by TMZ went viral on social media, Ariana Grande took to her X handle to share a public apology, saying:

"I am EXTREMELY proud to be an American and I've always made it clear that I love my country. What I said in a private moment with my friend, who was buying the donuts, was taken out of context and I am sorry for not using more discretion with my choice of words."

The 7 Rings singer then went on to call herself "an advocate for healthy eating," adding how food was very important to her, which led her to get upset over the fact that Americans ate things without giving any thought to the consequences that it had on their health and society as a whole, including herself in it by using "we."

Ari further said:

"The fact that the United States has one of the highest child obesity rates in the world frustrates me. We need to do more to educate ourselves and our children about the dangers of overeating and the poison that we put into our bodies. We need to demand more from our food industry."

Having explained her "I hate America" comment as best as she could, the Love Me Harder singer went on to apologize for her poor self-expression, saying:

"However, I should have known better in how I expressed myself; and with my new responsibility to others as a public figure, I will strive to be better."

Towards the end, Ariana Grande then addressed the rumors linking the viral video to the reason for her absence from the upcoming MLB show, stating her recovery from an emergency oral surgery as the true cause of why she couldn't attend the show.

Finally, she apologized again if her "poor choice of words" had offended anyone.

According to Grande's fandom wiki, the Grammy winner started dating Alvarez in April 2015 and the two broke up a little after a year, in July 2016. Although neither made any public comment about their breakup, Alvarez did part ways with the 23-year-old's dancing crew following it.

In 2018, the duo started hanging out again, although, this time, Grande shut down the rumors of them dating again by confirming that they were just friends.

A professional photographer and videographer, Alvarez also joined Ariana Grande on her Sweetener world tour in 2019.