Rapper Mac Miller reportedly died at age 26 after an apparent drug overdose. Fans, including stars like Chance the Rapper, immediately took to social media to express their grief. Yet, while many were expressing their condolences, some fans used Miller’s death as an opportunity to take shots at his ex-girlfriend, Ariana Grande.
Shortly after TMZ reported Miller’s death, fans took to the comments section of Grande’s Instagram to spew hate and assign blame. Many comments proclaimed one thing: that Grande was at “fault” for Miller’s overdose death. Grande’s comments have since been disabled, likely given the circumstances. (Refinery29 has reached out to Grande for comment.)
It seems Ariana Grande disabled people’s ability to comment on her Instagram posts after users were blaming her for Mac Miller’s death https://t.co/KvUA5uTKgJ
— Shira Tarlo (@shiratarlo) September 7, 2018
The “God Is A Woman” singer and the “Self Care” rapper (whose real name is Malcolm James McCormick) went public with their relationship in September of 2016. They broke up in May of 2018. Grande shared an Instagram post proclaiming that, while her relationship status with Miller had changed, the two would remain close friends. Weeks after Grande and Miller’s reported break up, Grande began dating Pete Davidson, to whom she later got engaged.
The accusation that Grande is in any way responsible for Miller’s death is insulting and cruel, and, unfortunately, it’s not the first time that Grande was blamed for Miller’s actions.
Not long after the pair announced their breakup, Miller was arrested for driving under the influence in May, with a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit. When a fan claimed that Grande’s decision to move on with Davidson was the catalyst for Miller’s DUI, Grande clapped back on Twitter:
“How absurd that you minimize female self-respect and self-worth by saying someone should stay in a toxic relationship,” she wrote in a lengthy note which she posted to Twitter, before adding: “Shaming or blaming a woman for a man’s inability to keep his shit together is a very major problem.”
— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) May 23, 2018
Blaming Grande for Miller’s struggle, and eventual death, places an unrealistic responsibility on her to manage a problem completely out of her control. It was also a problem that she admitted was too much for her to handle: Grande wrote on Twitter that it was “hard” and “scary” watching Miller go through this battle, and that it was much more so than she initially wanted to share publicly. By stating that Grande should have stayed with Miller, despite Grande herself proclaiming that it was “toxic” to do so, fans are encouraging an unhealthy and codependent relationship, one in which Grande bears responsibility for someone else’s well-being.
The truth is, Miller did not battle substance abuse because of a bad breakup. His issues with drugs have been well-documented for years. There’s no guarantee that, had Grande and Miller stayed together, he would have maintained his sobriety. In fact, as Grande points out in her note, Miller was not sober during their relationship.
Though it does not matter what Miller had to say about Grande or her current romantic relationship before his death, it’s particularly upsetting to see her so cruelly blamed by Miller’s fans when the rapper himself expressed nothing but warmth towards his ex-girlfriend. When asked by Rolling Stone about Grande’s engagement to Davidson, Miller had nothing but good things to say.
“I am genuinely happy that that’s how she moved. That’s good for her,” he told the outlet. “Go, go, keep going! As she should. I’m just being real. That’s good. Now I have space for me. And that’s great too.”
Perhaps fans should take Miller’s own words into consideration and choose to speak with kindness — especially given such tragic circumstances.
Ariana Grande-Butera born June 26, 1993) is an American singer and actress. She began her career in 2008 in the Broadway musical 13, before playing the role of Cat Valentine in the Nickelodeon television series Victorious (2010–2013) and in the spinoff Sam & Cat (2013–2014). She has also appeared in other theater and television roles and has lent her voice to animated television and films.
Grande’s music career began in 2011 with the soundtrack Music from Victorious. In 2013, she released her first studio album Yours Truly, which entered atop the US Billboard 200. The album’s lead single, “The Way”, debuted in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, with critics comparing her wide vocal range to that of Mariah Carey.
Grande’s second studio album, My Everything (2014), entered at number one in the US and charted in the top 10 in 24 other countries. With the lead single “Problem” and several other singles, she was continuously in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 for 34 weeks and had the most top 10 singles of any artist in 2014. The next year, Grande gave her first world tour, The Honeymoon Tour, to promote My Everything. In 2016, she released her third studio album Dangerous Woman, which charted at number two on the Billboard 200. Its title track debuted at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, making Grande the first person in the history of that chart to have the lead singles from each of their first three albums debut within the top 10 in the US. In 2017, Grande gave her international Dangerous Woman Tour. She released her fourth studio album, Sweetener, in August 2018. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and in a number of foreign markets.
As of June 2018, Grande’s music videos had been viewed a total of more than ten billion times online. Her accolades include three American Music Awards, three MTV Europe Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards and four Grammy Award nominations. Grande has sold 30.5 million digital singles in the US. All three of her albums have been certified platinum by the RIAA. She has supported a range of charities and has a large following on social media. In 2016, Time named Grande one of the 100 most influential people in the world on their annual list.