Ariana Grande Responds to Claims She's 'Exploiting LGBT Community' With Manchester Pride Show

Countless fans in the UK were delighted to hear pop star Ariana Grande would be gracing them by headlining the annual Manchester Pride festival. The performance will be especially important for Ari, who will be returning to the British city following the bombing which took place at her concert in May 2017, taking 22 lives.

While the general consensus is to be happy for the "Thank U, Next" singer, some on social media are accusing her of "exploiting the LGBT community" with this show. The claim stems from the fact that Ariana is straight, and apparently because the tickets for this year's festival are higher than previous years. Taking to Twitter after seeing a few comments like this, the 25-year-old singer weighed in.

"hi my love," Ariana started. "i have nothing to do with ticket pricing - manchester pride sets those rates, and they're mostly out of my control."

Ariana went on to explain how important the LGBTQ community is to her, and to highlight the fact that straight musicians have headlined Pride before, such as Kylie Minogue and Cher. "i just wanna put on a show that makes my lgbtq fans feel special and celebrated and supported," she concluded. "that's all i wanna do."

Since posting this note, the singer has received tons of supportive messages, even tweets from the person she originally replied to. "thank you so much for responding! i completely get where your [sic] coming from," the user wrote.

We love Ari for always communicating with her fans--even when they're angry with her.