FACT CHECK:   Did pop star Ariana Grande join ISIS after declaring that she hated America?

Claim:   Ariana Grande joined ISIS after declaring that she hated America.

  FALSE

Example:     [Collected via Twitter, July 2015]

Origins:    Shortly after 22-year-old American singer and actress Ariana Grande was caught on camera saying “I hate Americans” and “I hate America” at a Los Angeles-area donut shop in July 2015, the military-oriented satirical web site The Duffel Blog published an article claiming that the pop singer had joined the militant terrorist group ISIS:

“Just days after learning of her hatred for America, federal investigators have revealed that pop singer Ariana Grande was recruited by ISIS, radicalized by spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani’s Ramadan message, according to intelligence sources.

In a recent audio message, al-Adnani encouraged jihadists to make Ramadan a “calamity for the infidels.” Inspired by this directive, Grande infiltrated a local donut shop disguised as a customer and began maliciously licking pastries left out on display. Her wanton act of terrorism complete, she admitted her allegiance to ISIS by declaring, “I hate Americans! I hate America!”

During questioning by federal authorities Grande admitted she was always a “dark and deranged” child who would eventually travel a savage and violent path.

“There was a stage, when I was three or four, where my mom thought I might grow up to be a serial killer,” said Grande of her disturbing childhood.

Although it’s true that Ariana Grande licked a donut before proclaiming “I hate America,” that performance was not a terrorist act, nor has the young star joined the forces of ISIS.

The Duffel Blog‘s material is satire, not news. The web site has recently published fictional spoof about the Elf on the Shelf toy being a secret NSA program, and the Applebee’s retaurant chain going bankrupt after offering free liquor.

The Duffel Blog‘s disclaimer page notes that:

We are in no way, shape, or form, a real news outlet. Everything on this website is satirical and the content of this site is a parody of a news organization. No composition should be regarded as truthful, and no reference of an individual, company, or military unit seeks to inflict malice or emotional harm.

On 9 July 2015, Ariana Grande issued an apology for her behavior at the donut shop:

“Seeing a video of yourself behaving poorly that you had no idea was taken is such a rude awakening. It’s like you don’t know what to do. I was so disgusted with myself, I wanted to shove my face in a pillow and just disappear. I’m going to come forward and own up to what I did and take responsibility and say I’m sorry.

“I’m 22. I’m human. I still got a lot to learn. I make mistakes, and that’s how I’m gonna learn. It’s all a process and I want to be as good as I possibly can be for my babes.”

Last updated:      10 July 2015

Originally published:    10 July 2015

More From Snopes.com
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ariana-grande-isis/
www.snopes.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2018-26
86680
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:LUAHSWKWIFRE5XZ6DZNJEFZK5O6XTHFZ
<urn:uuid:6ab5c69a-6364-44d0-a819-7237391f80d4>
2018-06-24T08:45:07Z
52.45.7.26
text/html
sha1:OKYQP4TMDWDLRHGG7SQMQJXY5KTLSG6U
<urn:uuid:0f02fd16-a12a-4f5f-abaa-debc7b3dea30>
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ariana-grande-isis/
response
<urn:uuid:1224f7bc-acf3-4d97-8257-973ab6802b15>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-159-200-107.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2018-26
operator: Common Crawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for June 2018
publisher: Common Crawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf