Entertainment
Ariana Grande’s Most Controversial Moments: Alleged Cheating and More on August 1, 2023 at 12:00 am Us Weekly

Ariana Grande Matt Baron/Shutterstock
Ariana Grande‘s on-set romance with Ethan Slater is far from her first brush with controversy.
Since her rise to the top of the charts, Grande’s career has been plagued by scandals. In July 2015, she sparked outrage online after a video of her licking donuts — and later calling them “disgusting” and saying she hates America — went viral. She issued several apologies about the incident, asserting in a statement to Us Weekly that she would “strive to be better” after the public took offense to her “poor choice of words.”
Along with allegedly feuding with former costars and being accused of plagiarism, Grande’s personal relationships have raised eyebrows over the years. Naya Rivera once claimed the pop star’s romance with Big Sean may have overlapped with her own — and some fans have allegedly found evidence that the pattern continued in more of Grande’s relationships.
Following her whirlwind engagement to Pete Davidson, Grande attempted to keep her love life on the down-low. She exchanged vows with Dalton Gomez in May 2021, but the couple called it quits after two years of marriage.
As news broke of Grande’s divorce, Us confirmed her relationship with Slater — and fans quickly tried to piece together their dating timeline. “Ariana’s determined to move forward,” a source exclusively told Us of the scandal in July 2023.
Keep scrolling for a breakdown of Grande’s biggest controversies through the years:
The ‘I Hate America’ Donut
Grande sparked backlash in July 2015 when footage went viral of her and then-boyfriend Ricky Alvarez at Wolfee Donuts in California. In the clip originally posted by TMZ, Grande licked pastries she didn’t appear to have purchased when an employee’s back was turned. When a tray of fresh donuts was brought out, she teased, “What the f—k is that? I hate Americans. I hate America! That’s disgusting.” (The incident took place on the 4th of July.)
The video was immediately met with outrage, and Grande issued a statement to Us apologizing for her behavior. “I am EXTREMELY proud to be an American and I’ve always made it clear that I love my country. … As an advocate for healthy eating, food is very important to me and I sometimes get upset by how freely we as Americans eat and consume things without giving any thought to the consequences that it has on our health and society as a whole,” she explained, acknowledging that she should have had “more discretion with my choice of words.”
During a Good Morning America appearance in September 2015, Grande apologized once again. “I think one of the biggest things I learned from that was what it feels like to disappoint so many people who love and believe in you. And that’s an excruciating feeling,” she said.
Todd Williamson/January Images/Shutterstock
Calling Out the Grammys
In February 2019, reports surfaced that Grande canceled her planned performance at the 61st annual Grammys due to production disagreements. Producer Ken Ehrlich later claimed to the Associated Press that Grande “felt it was too late for her to pull something together.”
Grande swiftly clapped back via Twitter, writing, “Mhmmm here it is! I’ve kept my mouth shut but now you’re lying about me. I can pull together a performance over night and you know that, Ken. It was when my creativity & self expression was stifled by you, that I decided not to attend. I hope the show is exactly what you want it to be and more.”
Grande was reportedly told she couldn’t perform “7 Rings” unless it was part of a medley. In her string of tweets, Grande claimed she offered suggestions for different songs. “It’s about collaboration. It’s about feeling supported. It’s about art and honesty. Not politics. Not doing favors or playing games,” she wrote. “It’s just a game y’all.. and I’m sorry but that’s not what music is to me.”
That year, Grande was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Performance and Best Pop Vocal Album, winning the latter. She returned to the Grammys stage in January 2020 to perform.
Jennette McCurdy Fallout
After her stint on Victorious, Grande teamed up with iCarly‘s Jennette McCurdy for a Nickelodeon spinoff titled Sam & Cat. In her 2022 memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died, McCurdy claimed that she wasn’t allowed to pursue other opportunities while working on the show — but Grande was. She alleged that Nickelodeon offered her $300,000 to not discuss her experience at the network publicly.
“What finally undid me was when Ariana came whistle-toning in with excitement because she had spent the previous evening playing charades at Tom Hanks’ house,” she wrote. “That was the moment I broke.”
She added: “Ariana misses work in pursuit of her music career while I act with a box. I’m pissed about it. And I’m pissed at her. Jealous of her.”
Before the series was canceled in July 2014, it was put on a production hiatus amid reports that Grande was earning a much higher salary than her costar. Grande shut down the “absolutely ridiculous and false” speculation via Twitter.
“Jennette and I agreed upfront that we would be treated equally on this show in all regards (as we should be, considering we each work just as hard as the other on this show),” she wrote. “I don’t know who’s putting these idiotic quotes out there but I thought I’d straighten it out and try to end this nonsense.”
McCurdy fueled rumors of a feud between her and Grande with her web series What’s Next for Sarah? after Sam & Cat’s cancelation. The show featured a pop star named Gloriana who rocked a high ponytail — Grande’s signature style.
Broadimage/Shutterstock
Naya Rivera Caught Her With Big Sean
Grande dated Big Sean in 2014 after his split from former fiancée Rivera — but the Glee alum claimed there was some overlap in the two romances.
“On the one day that he was back in LA, [Sean] said he didn’t want to see me. But since she had a key, she let herself in to his house,” Rivera wrote in her 2016 memoir, Sorry Not Sorry. “I walk in, go downstairs, and guess what little girl is sitting cross-legged on the couch listening to music? … It rhymes with ‘Smariana Schmande.’”
Rivera remembered feeling blindsided by her and Sean’s breakup. “I learned that I was no longer getting married from the internet, and at the same time as the rest of the world,” she alleged. “Not only were we not getting married, we weren’t even together anymore.”
Grande never responded to Rivera’s claims. Rivera, meanwhile, died in a drowning accident in July 2020.
‘Wicked’ Romance With Ethan Slater
Us confirmed in July 2023 that Grande and Gomez were separated after two years of marriage. Shortly after the breakup made headlines, Us confirmed that Grande had already moved on with her Wicked costar. (Slater was married to Lilly Jay at the time, with whom he welcomed a son in 2022.)
According to a source, Slater informed Jay about his relationship with Grande “days before” it became public. (A source close to Grande denied the claims.) While Grande and Slater didn’t immediately comment on the scandal, Jay shared her side of the story with Page Six.
“[Ariana’s] the story really. Not a girl’s girl. My family is just collateral damage,” she claimed. “The story is her and Dalton.”
Slater filed for divorce from Jay in July 2023. An insider exclusively told Us that Gomez, meanwhile, wanted to give Grande “space” but hadn’t “given up hope that they can make things work.”
Annie Wermiel/NY Post; Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/MEGA
Cultural Appropriation Accusations
Grande has been criticized for Blackfishing — or seemingly making her skin darker — and other instances of appropriation through the years. In 2019, she was accused of exploiting Asian culture by using Japanese characters in her visuals (and in a misspelled tattoo).
“I can’t read or write kanji obviously. What do you want me to do? It was done out of love and appreciation,” she wrote in a since-deleted tweet about her ink at the time. “What do you want me to say? U kno how many people make this mistake and DON’T care just cause they like how it looks? Bruh… I care sooooo much. What would u like me to do or say? Forreal.”
Grande was also selling merch with Japanese characters on it that was eventually taken down from her site. “People on this app really don’t know how to be forgiving or gentle when someone has made an innocent mistake. No one considers feelings other than their own,” she wrote amid the backlash.
Around the same time, Grande was accused of plagiarizing “7 Rings.” Princess Nokia claimed in a social media video that Grande’s hit sounded similar to “Mine” from her mixtape 1992. “Ain’t that the lil song I made about brown women and their hair? Hmmm… sounds about white,” she hinted.
In response, Grande posted — and subsequently deleted — via her Instagram Story: “White women talking about their weaves is how we’re gonna solve racism.” She later apologized for the “out of pocket” quip.
Alleged Diva Behavior
Since the beginning of her career, Grande has been accused of making outrageous demands and demonstrating unprofessional behavior. In 2014, rumors swirled that Grande’s team had a list of off-limits topics prepared for interviews and that Grande only wanted to be photographed on her left side. (She called the reports “nonsense” in a radio interview at the time.)
Grande opened up about being labeled a “diva” during a 2020 sit-down with Zane Lowe. “I stopped doing interviews for a really long time because I felt like whenever I would get into a position where somebody would try to say something for clickbait or twist my words or blah, blah, blah, I would defend myself. And then, people would be like, ‘Oh, she’s a diva,’” she said. “I was like, ‘This doesn’t make any sense.’”
While she felt like her “opinions” were often “manipulated” for a headline, Grande didn’t see the same thing happening to men in the public eye. “It’s like when men express their opinions or defend themselves or are directing something and making notes on something, they’re brilliant. And they’re genius at it. And yet, it’s just so not the same thing with women … It’s not always that way. But it does make you want to quiet down a little bit.”
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Grande confessed that it hasn’t always been easy to approach negativity with a “f–k that” attitude.
Ariana Grande‘s on-set romance with Ethan Slater is far from her first brush with controversy. Since her rise to the top of the charts, Grande’s career has been plagued by scandals. In July 2015, she sparked outrage online after a video of her licking donuts — and later calling them “disgusting” and saying she hates
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Entertainment
STREAMING PREMIERE · JUNE 13, 2026

Laughter Meets Inspiration: Our Ladies Show Lands on The Roku Channel
A bold new sketch comedy series for women premieres June 13 across the U.S., U.K., and Canada — arriving on the back of a festival-winning run that has critics and audiences already paying attention.
It isn’t every day a brand-new comedy arrives already wearing a row of trophies. Our Ladies Show does. The seven-episode inspirational sketch comedy series — created, written by, and starring Christin Jezak — begins streaming on The Roku Channel on Friday, June 13, 2026, available free to viewers in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.
Produced in partnership with global media services leader Encompass Digital Media, the series sets out to do something rare in today’s streaming landscape: make women laugh out loud and leave them lifted. In a media moment crowded with noise and cynicism, Our Ladies Show is a deliberate counterweight — comedy with a conscience, built for women of every age and background.

A Show Built Around Real Life — and Real Laughs
Each of the seven episodes opens with a monologue from one of the cast members introducing the theme, then rolls into three or more sketches that hit the subject from every comedic angle. The series tackles the things women actually carry: holding grudges, comparison, beauty, patience, gift giving, the importance of community, and dealing with anxiety.
The comedy comes from a place of warmth rather than mockery — a “laugh at ourselves” spirit that runs through a gallery of unforgettable characters: a nosey neighbor, an overwhelmed mom, relentlessly optimistic flight attendants, beauty pageant winners past their prime, and a crew of unruly campers with a counselor who simply cannot hold it together.
Then the show does something most sketch series don’t. In the final segment of every episode, the cast gathers in a living-room setting and invites the audience in — sharing real inspiration drawn from the theme, the sketches, and their own personal stories. It’s the moment the laughter turns into something that stays with you.

The Women Behind the Show
Our Ladies Show brings together three performers with serious range:
- Christin Jezak — creator, writer, and star (Miracle at Manchester, Raising Hope, Jimmy Kimmel Live!)
- Hillary Hawkins — (Primal, Nick Jr.’s Play Along, Gullah Gullah Island)
- Sarah Hernandez — (Nefarious, Unplanned, House of Payne)
“In a world with so much division and depression, I hope women of all ages and backgrounds will watch this show, laugh, be reminded of how beautiful, unique, and loved they are, and remember how much we need each other.”— Christin Jezak, Creator & Star
Already a Festival Favorite
The series’ recurring long-form sketch, Neighborhood Watch, didn’t arrive quietly. Originally released as a web series and revamped for Our Ladies Show with new footage, sound, and music, it has been sweeping the festival circuit:
- 🏆 Best Webseries — 2026 New Media Film Festival (Los Angeles)
- 🏆 Best Web/TV Series — Paris Film Awards
- 🏆 Best Web Series — Dallas Movie Awards
- 🏅 Additional wins at the London Movie Awards, Florence Film Awards, and Hollywood Gold Awards
- 🎬 Official Selection — 2026 Harvard Divinity School Film Fest
- ⭐ Finalist — Houston Comedy Film Festival
- 📣 Three nominations — 2025 Content Christian Media Conference, including Best Actress in a TV and Web Series nods for both Christin Jezak and Sarah Hernandez
Where and When to Watch
Our Ladies Show premieres Friday, June 13, 2026, streaming on The Roku Channel — the home of premium and free entertainment — in the U.S., U.K., and Canada. All seven episodes deliver the series’ signature blend of sharp sketch comedy and genuine encouragement.

Watch the trailer now on your platform of choice:
For more information, visit www.ourladiesshow.com and follow @ourladiesshow on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

About Christin Jezak
Christin Jezak has worked for over 15 years in the entertainment industry. She created and stars in Our Ladies Show and the award-winning web series Neighborhood Watch. She produced the EWTN TV program For the Sake of the Gospel and the all-women web series Ladies Keepin’ It Real, played Dr. Sam in Miracle at Manchester (starring Dean Cain, Daniel Roebuck, and Eddie McClintock), and voices Agnes in the podcast Confessions of a Catholic Single. She held a lead role in a short film for NTT Data directed by Academy Award–winning cinematographer Janusz Kamiński, has co-starred on Raising Hope, and appeared in Jimmy Kimmel sketches and a Grubhub Super Bowl commercial.

About The Roku Channel
Roku pioneered streaming on TV and is the #1 TV streaming platform in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico by hours streamed (Hypothesis Group, Dec. 2025). The Roku Channel is the home of premium and free entertainment, alongside Roku’s Howdy and Frndly TV services. Roku is headquartered in San Jose, California.
About Encompass Digital Media
Encompass Digital Media is a global managed services company — technology-driven, software-defined, and people-powered. Trusted by world-leading broadcasters, networks, sports rights-holders, and OTT platforms, it processes over 25,000 hours of content daily, serves 850 channels to 84 countries, distributes over 243,000 live events annually, and reaches 400 million radio listeners weekly worldwide. Learn more at www.encompass.tv.
Media & Interview Requests: To interview creator Christin Jezak or the cast, contact Christin at cjezak@p2ptheatre.com.
Entertainment
What Filmmakers Should Actually Steal From Euphoria

Most of the talk about Euphoria asks one question: was it realistic? That’s the wrong question if you make films. The better one is simpler. How did Sam Levinson get an audience to feel addiction from the inside? And what did it cost him to end the show the way he did?
Strip away the noise and Euphoria is a clinic in three choices: point of view, style, and the ending. Here’s what’s worth taking — and what isn’t.

1. Put the Camera Inside the Character
Most shows about drugs watch from across the room. Euphoria doesn’t. When Rue is high, the camera is high too. Walls breathe. Floors tilt. Time skips. You’re not watching her — you’re stuck inside her head.
That’s the lesson: point of view is a decision you make with the camera and the cut, not a mood you add later in color. Levinson builds it into the lens, the blocking, and the edit.
So before you shoot a scene through a character’s eyes, ask one thing on set: whose eyes is this lens standing in for? Then make every cut respect that.
2. Your Style Has to Mean Something
The glitter. The slow push-ins. The impossible club lighting. Euphoria‘s look got copied everywhere. That’s the trap.
The style worked because it carried weight. The beauty wasn’t decoration — it was the lie addiction tells you, the reason the next high looks worth it. The camera made self-destruction gorgeous on purpose.
The copies missed that. A thousand music videos took the look and left the meaning behind, and you can feel how hollow they are. So here’s the test: if your signature style could be swapped onto any other project and still “work,” it’s not a style. It’s a filter. Every choice should have a reason behind it.
3. The Ending Tells the Audience What It All Meant
When Euphoria ended for good in Season 3, Levinson killed Rue — an accidental, fentanyl-laced overdose. He called it “the honest ending,” saying he wanted to tell a true story about addiction and grief in a time when one mistake can be the last one. Reportedly, that wasn’t the original plan; the death of Angus Cloud, who played Fezco, changed the script.
Forget whether you agree with the choice. Study how it works. An ending is the last instruction you give your audience about how to read everything before it.
By ending on consequence instead of recovery, Levinson reframed seven years of beautiful chaos as a story about cost — not a celebration of it.
It’s also the show’s most debatable move, and that’s worth noticing too. A show that spent years making pain look beautiful had to fight to make that pain land as loss. Did it earn the ending, or enjoy the wreckage too long to stick it? Smart filmmakers will disagree — and that argument is exactly what a good ending is supposed to start.

What Not to Take
The neon grief is the most copied part. It’s also the least useful. Take the surface — the colors, the slow-mo, the trauma-as-texture — and you get the costume without the body.
The real craft is underneath. Commit your camera to a real point of view. Make every stylistic choice earn its place. Treat your ending as the point of the whole thing. Do that, and your work won’t look like Euphoria. It’ll do what Euphoria did.
This piece touches on addiction and substance use. If you or someone you know is struggling, support is available through the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357.
Entertainment
How a 22-Person Film Crew Each Walked Away With $300,000

In the spring of 2020, with Hollywood shut down and most film workers suddenly out of a job, Zendaya made a movie in a single house with a crew of 22. The film was Malcolm & Marie. What happened to that crew afterward is the part worth paying attention to — and it’s quietly become a blueprint indie filmmakers are borrowing five years later.
Instead of paying everyone the standard flat day rate and sending them home, Zendaya structured the production so the crew owned a piece of it. They received “points” — a share of the film’s revenue.
When Malcolm & Marie sold to Netflix for roughly $30 million, those points turned into real money. Because one point typically equals 1%, a single point on that sale was worth around $300,000.
For a crew used to being paid by the day, that’s a life-changing number.
The Math That Makes It Click
The reason points are so powerful is that their value scales with the film, not with your hours on set:
- At $30 million in revenue, 1% equals $300,000
- At $50 million, 1% equals $500,000
- At $100 million, 1% equals $1 million
Now hold that against traditional indie crew pay, which runs roughly $300 to $800 per day. A 20-day shoot totals somewhere between $6,000 and $16,000 — full stop, no upside, no matter how well the film does. The points model flips the entire logic: you stop getting paid for time and start getting paid for success.
This Isn’t New — It’s Just Newly Accessible
Backend deals are how the biggest names in Hollywood get rich. Robert Downey Jr. reportedly earned tens of millions from his Avengers: Endgame backend; Keanu Reeves made a fortune off The Matrix through profit participation. The leverage to demand that kind of deal has always belonged to A-list stars.
What changed with Malcolm & Marie is who got a seat at the table. Zendaya didn’t reserve the points for herself and a couple of producers — she extended them to the crew, the people she described as laying the tracks and doing the heavy lifting. That’s the shift indie filmmakers are now studying: ownership as something you share down the call sheet, not hoard at the top.
Why Indie Filmmakers Should Care
Independent films usually run on budgets between $50,000 and $500,000, where labor can eat up 40% to 60% of total costs. That creates a permanent squeeze: how do you attract genuinely skilled people without torching the budget before you’ve shot a frame?
Equity is the pressure valve. Offering ownership instead of higher upfront pay lets you reduce immediate production costs, attract more experienced collaborators, and — maybe most importantly — build a team that actually wants the film to win.

How to Apply It to Your Own Project
You don’t need a $30 million Netflix sale for this to work. Say your budget is $250,000 and your revenue goal is $500,000, making 1% worth $5,000. Instead of stretching cash thin across every line item, you might offer 1% to a cinematographer, 1% to an editor, and 1–2% to a producer. You preserve cash during production and hand your key people a real reason to overdeliver.
Ownership Changes How People Show Up
A stake rewires behavior. People who own a piece of the outcome stay sharper on set, pitch in on marketing and promotion without being asked, and stay invested long after wrap. That last part matters more than it sounds — a crew that’s financially tied to the film becomes part of its distribution engine, not just its production.
Read the Fine Print
Equity is not a salary, and it’s honest to say so. Malcolm & Marie worked because it sold to Netflix at a high price — that’s the upside scenario, not a guarantee. If a project underperforms, points can be worth little or nothing. So if you use this model, do it cleanly: define revenue participation explicitly in contracts, spell out recoupment structures so everyone knows who gets paid and in what order, and offer partial upfront payment where you can to balance the risk. The whole thing runs on trust, and trust runs on transparency.
The Bigger Picture
What Zendaya pulled off with a 22-person crew in one house pointed to something larger about how creative work gets valued. In an industry where funding is the hardest wall to climb, ownership has become its own currency. You may not control access to millions in financing — but you fully control how value gets shared on your set. And that, more often than not, is the difference between a film that stalls in development and one that actually gets made.
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