Ariana Grande responds to tattoo controversy with series of emotional since-deleted tweets

'There is a difference between appropriation and appreciation'

Ariana Grande has responded to fans criticising her latest tattoo.

The singer celebrated her song “7 Rings” smashing streaming records and selling thousands of copies by getting the phrase “7 rings” tattooed in Japanese characters on the palm of her hand.

Soon after, Grande shared an image of the tattoo on her official Japanese Twitter account. However, fans were quick to point out the tattoo had actually been spelt incorrectly.

The original tattoo was made up of two kanji characters: “七”, which means “seven”, and “輪”, which means “hoop”, “circle” or “rings”. Putting the two characters together, “七輪”, translates to mean “shichirin”, which is a lightweight small charcoal grill.

The singer than attempted to fix the tattoo by getting an additional kanji, ”指”, meaning “finger”, added to her hand.

Unfortunately, even with the amendment, the tattoo may still read strangely, as Japanese can be read from left to right or in vertical columns. Therefore, the tattoo may still have different translations, depending on the direction in which it’s read.

Grande shared a photo on her Instagram story of the corrected tattoo (Instagram/Ariana Grande)

In an emotional series of since-deleted tweets, Grande spoke about her issues with the tattoo, calling it an “innocent mistake” and saying there’s a difference between “appropriation and appreciation”.

“I went back and got it fixed with the help of my tutor to be more accurate,” she wrote. ”I can’t read or write kanji obviously. What do you want me to do? It was done out of love and appreciation. What do you want me to say?

“You know how many people make this mistake and DON’T care just cause they like how it looks? Bruh…. I care soooo much. What would u like me to do or say? Forreal.

“I have crippling anxiety lol. I don’t like hurtin people. 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. It’s very pointless. I don’t even know why I’m talking about this anymore."

She continued: “There is a difference between appropriation and appreciation. My japanese fans were always excited when I wrote in japanese or wore japanese sayings on my clothing. However, all of the merch with japanese on it was taken down from my site not that anyone cared to notice.

“I’mma stop taking lessons too. It’s literally just something that brings me joy and that i’m passionate about. I legit wanted to move there one day. But all good. Have a good one.

“I try. I’m made of love and nothing else. I just wanna sing, man. Wake me up when tour starts.”