Ariana Grande, whose concert in Manchester, England, last week was the setting or a horrific, tragic bombing attack that left 22 people dead and 60 injured, has announced that she will return to the city for a concert to benefit the victims and their families.
The year-old singer, who suspended her Dangerous Woman tour after the May 22 attack, posted a letter on social media on Friday announcing her return and saying, “My heart, prayers and deepest condolences are with the victims of the Manchester attack and their loved ones.” She went on to say “There is nothing I or anyone can do to take away the pain you are feeling or to make this better. However, I extend my hand and heart and everything I possibly can give to you and yours should you want or need my help in any way.”
— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) May 26, 2017
In addition to the benefit concert, Ariana has promoted a link to a charity that has already raised over $2 million for those affected by the attack. TMZ reports that the concert will be held on June 5.
Ariana’s mother, Joan, who was attending the Manchester show with her daughter, posted a message on Twitter on Monday where she vowed to “extend my help and services to all those affected by the diabolical act of terror which occurred in Manchester.” She added that her “heart goes out to all the victims” and asserted, “I stand with you all in the face of evil & we stand together to never let it rule our lives.”
#MemorialDay pic.twitter.com/oUDmB7VD6x
— Joan Grande (@joangrande) May 29, 2017
I think it’s quite admirable of Ariana to help out these unfortunate victims of a cowardly act. She has gotten flak about this whole situation and I can’t understand why. I am 100% positive she feels terrible, and confident she’s got the victims’ best interests at heart. I certainly hope the new concert proceeds without incident.
Photos: WENN.com, Getty Images
I don’t know why she’s got flak either. She’s just a kid herself, FFS.
The Fail, from what I understand, did its usual misogyny thing in which it moaned about misogynistic terrorists while having a misogynistic subtext all of its own. Something LEGS something COSTUMES something MISOGYNY. But you expect that from them. The rest of it is incomprehensible to me.
The We Love Manchester fund is up to £5.75 million, by the way – about $7.5 million.
She’s being incredibly brave.
She’s going right back to the place that she and others were attacked, on purpose, for the people’s good.
This is a strong message.
Some of the things people have said about her on twitter are nauseating – no compassion whatsoever. I hope the benefit concert goes well and will be donating. The fact that the Fail had the audacity to talk about misogyny with their track record is just ridiculous. I avoid that website and it’s comment section-it makes me rage-y and I don’t need that right now
I follow the critical/satire account @DMReporter on the Twatter. Else I wouldn’t know either. Would not click to that site for anything.
Those giving her flak, who seem to be on the far right of the political spectrum, seem to think she should have been camped out in the hospital with the victims. These seem to be the same people who are defending Trump for failing to acknowledge that two men in Oregon were murdered for trying to defend a Muslim woman from a white supremacist’s hate rant. There are sick people in this world.
I saw that – an absolutely dreadful crime. More misogyny. More right wing terrorism. RIP the heroic victims.
He did finally acknowledge it, only took him 3 days to do so. And it was a short, genetic tweet (of course) which didn’t even mention the victims’ names.
I have some Facebook “friends” who were sharing pictures of her saying she “loves muslims and hates America”. They’re all on the far right of the political spectrum and not the brightest people I know.
Misogyny, yep. They didn’t mention that Ariana, too, was a victim of the Manchester bombing, just like the other attendees. She wasn’t physically harmed but she could have been, and the bombing happened AT her event. She’ll carry the psychological trauma of that, and survivor’s guilt like the rest of them in a very specific way that the rest of us can’t. Certain media types need to just let her deal with the trauma in her own way. She’s going through her own grief too. To say nothing of the fact that she could’ve posed a greater security issue by visiting the victims in the hospital.
Because she’s a woman that dared to create a safe space for girls, boys, and anyone that felt like an outsider to enjoy her music. There was someone that criticized her for going home. Poor girl was traumatized and people are criticizing her going home to be with family.
She’s being incredibly brave going back so soon
The Fail is really the worst, read by the worst scum on Earth.
She has handled this wonderfully and in a mature way. I have been ‘near’ a bomb twice (thankfully experts got there in time and did a controlled explosion) and it’s not something you forget even if it didn’t blow up.
She’s also very brave to go back and perform there so soon.
I had no opinion of her before this incident, but after the attack, and the way she handled it, I have nothing bad to say about this young woman. Her fans were attacked and killed at HER concert – I can’t imagine what she must be feeling. I hope her Benefit concert goes on without a glitch.
Why on earth has she gotten flak and who in their sane mind would blame her for what happened??!!
And I say this as someone who has an intense dislike for her but that’s mainly because I’m not even close to being her fan base. I’m sure plenty of people rolled their eyes at my idols when I was a teenager.
I sincerely stand with those affected and I hope this show not only benefits them but also brings back the hope and a bit of joy in their lives.
I thought her letter was beautiful and it made me cry. It really sucks that she has to feel like she owes anyone anything. She’s a victim herself and will carry this guilt for the rest of her life.
I don’t know why people presume this event wouldn’t have been traumatic for her even if she wasn’t caught in the actual blast. She still would have heard it go off. She would have had to know they chose to attack her concert. She would have to deal with seeing all of the news articles saying this was an “attack on girls” because she dresses provocatively. That’s some heavy shit.
I know she’s been a giant diva in the past, but I can’t get on her case about how she’s handled this this far. She’s doing a really great job.
I can’t even imagine the sheer terror of hearing (but not seeing) a bomb go off nearby and not know if another will follow… were they aiming for me? What happens next? I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. What a tragic event to have happened.
Criticism of her after this event is totally unjustified. I cannot imagine how she and her team are dealing with the shock and horror of such an unspeakable attack. And just think–her mother was there through all this and is agreeing that Ariana return to Manchester to make a statement against hate and support fans. I have to admit that I might not be so brave. I admire them.
The one thing I would wish for her to do is getting more specific. There are 90+ families very directly affected by this, many losing their entire livelihood. Two young sisters alone lost both parents, a single mother of two is gone, there are countless people injured and many more psychologically impacted in a way that might cause a financial disaster for their family for decades to come. General donations are wonderful but I would like to see Ariana specifically supporting the families, not just by way of donations.
What else is she supposed to do?
how is that her responsibility to specifically support the families affected?
you’re insane
She’s paying for all funeral costs, why more does she need to do?
She has every right to be as traumatised as anybody else who was in the arena that night, and if she never wanted to return, she has that right too. The people criticizing her for how she’s coping with her ordeal, need to go take a long walk off a short pier.
I would just like to say a big thank you to everybody on this site who posted kind words and prayers for the victims and Manchester itself. Some of the victims’ families have said how heartened they were by the outpouring of love and best wishes they received. I usually pay my respects when something like this happens but I’ve never realised before how important it is. I’m lucky in that I wasn’t involved in the bombing, nor have I lost any loved ones but I still felt just dreadful that somebody would do this to these lovely people and to my amazing city. Seeing people’s kind words and tributes has made me cry more times than I care to mention.
You’re a lovely bunch of people and I’d just like to thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thanks to Ariana as well, I can’t begin to understand what she and the other people caught up in this attack must be feeling so for her to come back and put herself out there in the public eye takes bravery I’m not even sure I have.
I’ll have to go, I’m crying again now xxx
I don’t even care about all the diva antic rumors we’ve heard so many times. None of that matters anymore. None of it. She, too, is a survivor of this tragedy. I don’t know that she’s ready to go back on stage, but right now, any criticism against her is completely out of line.
I don’t know her music (I’m old) but I am impressed that she is returning to a scene that was so traumatic for so many and I applaud her fund-raising efforts.
I am 100% impressed by this. AG has done some dumb sh!t in the past-but my god, this happening to those people at her show-she is just as much an innocent in this why is she getting flak?!?…..she has reacted like a champ. I admire her and her team’s response to this atrocity and their heartfelt communications to the people affected. My heart is with Manchester. And my props are with AG for this.