Ariana Grande said Jeffrey Dahmer is her ‘dream dinner guest’ – his victim’s family isn’t happy
Ariana Grande (L) is facing criticism after saying gay serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer (R) is her ideal dinner guest (Getty)
The family of one of Jeffrey Dahmer’s victims has criticised pop star Ariana Grande for saying the serial killer would be her “dream dinner guest”.
Grande named Dahmer during an episode of the Podcrushed podcast, admitting that she had already told fans this many years ago.
“I was infatuated with serial killers when I was younger, she said. “It was in between me being Cat [on Sam & Cat and Victorious] and pop stuff, so it was like a younger group. They were with parents, and someone said: ‘If you could have dinner with anyone living or dead, who would it be?’
Grande asked the parents if she could be honest. “They were like, ‘Sure, what’s the answer?’ and I was like: ‘Jeffrey Dahmer is pretty fascinating’.
“I think I would have loved to have met him. You know, maybe with a third party or someone involved.”
Who was Jeffrey Dahmer?
Dahmer was a serial killer who murdered and dismembered 17 men, most of whom were gay, between 1978 and 1991. Many of his crimes involved acts of necrophilia, cannibalism and sadism. He was also known as the Milwaukee Monster.
He was convicted of 15 murders and sentenced to 15 terms of life imprisonment in Milwaukee in 1992. He was later sentenced to a sixteenth term in Ohio, after pleading guilty to his first murder, that of 18-year-old hitch-hiker Steven Hicks.
Dahmer, who is widely believed to have been gay – although there are still huge debates around that – was himself murdered by a fellow inmate at a jail in Wisconsin in 1994.
Why has Ariana Grande faced a backlash?
The clip of Grande on Podcrushed was shared on Reddit earlier this week, with people questioning why the singer would want to have dinner with such a person.
One Reddit user said: “I genuinely do not understand what she was going for here, the families of his victims are still very much alive and have said they hate that people glorify him and make shows about him and forget the victims.
“She thinks she’s being edgy but she is just a tone-deaf person who doesn’t care about other people’s pain.”
Another person wrote: “This is so vile… I have a great interest in crime cases but the last thing I’d want to do is have dinner with a serial killer.”
And a third agreed, saying: “Jeffrey Dahmer was a paedophile who murdered innocent people, mainly people of colour, because he knew police wouldn’t take their disappearances as seriously. Joking about wanting to have dinner with him is sick and horribly offensive to the victims’ families, who are still alive and affected by the tragedy.”
What have the families of Dahmer’s victims said?
The family of victim Tony Hughes are extremely unhappy with Grande’s comments.
An aspiring model, 31-year-old Hughes, who was both deaf and non-verbal, was murdered after meeting Dahmer in a gay bar in 1991.
His mother Shirley told TMZ: “To me, it seems like she’s sick in her mind. It’s not fancy or funny to say you would have wanted to do dinner with him. It’s also not something you should say to young people, which she says she did.”
Hughes’ sister Barbara said Grande’s comments glamorised the serial killer and called on the star to apologise, The Independent reported.
The family were similarly outraged when Netflix released a dramatisation of Dahmer’s life and murders. Actor Evan Peters won a BAFTA and Golden Globe for his portrayal of the killer, who has also been played by Ross Lynch.
