Photo Credit: Podcrushe podcast
Ariana Grande is under fire from the family of Jeffrey Dahmer's victims for describing the serial killer as her dream dinner guest. This backlash stems from Grande's appearance on Penn Badgley's "Podcrushed" podcast, where she revealed she used to be "infatuated" with serial killers like Dahmer. During the podcast, Grande recounted a Q&A session early in her career, where she told a young fan she would choose Dahmer as a dinner guest. "I was like, 'Oh honey, you're so cute,'" she said, adding, "I mean, Jeffrey Dahmer is pretty fascinating."
These comments have upset the family of Tony Hughes, a deaf, nonverbal victim murdered by Dahmer in 1991. Hughes' mother, Shirley, expressed her disturbance to TMZ, criticizing Grande for treating the topic flippantly and lacking empathy for the victims' families. "To me, it seems like she's sick in her mind," Shirley Hughes said. "It's not fancy or funny to say you would have wanted to do dinner with him. It's also not something you should say to young people, which she says she did."
Tony Hughes' sister, Barbara, echoed these sentiments, calling for Grande to apologize and emphasize to her fans that such remarks are inappropriate. Barbara accused Grande of glamorizing Dahmer, stating, "I would like to see Grande apologize for her remarks."
Grande's fascination with Dahmer has sparked wider criticism on social media. One user on X questioned, "Why does nobody else find this incredibly weird," while another asked, "Where's the media training for celebs nowadays?"
Jeffrey Dahmer, known as the Milwaukee Cannibal, was convicted of murdering 17 men between 1978 and 1991, involving acts of torture, dismemberment, sexual assault, and cannibalism. Dahmer's gruesome crimes have been the subject of several films and TV series, including the 2022 Netflix series "Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story," which also faced backlash from victims' families.
As of now, Ariana Grande has not addressed the backlash surrounding her comments.
