Ariana Grande has urged her fans to take the coronavirus pandemic more seriously, criticising what she calls the “stupid and privileged” approach of many people not worried about the outbreak.

Posting on social media, the singer wrote: “i keep hearing from a surprising amount of people statements like ‘this isn’t a big deal’ / ‘we’ll be fine’… ‘we still have to go about our lives’ and it’s really blowing my mind.

“i understand if that is how u felt weeks ago. but please read about what’s going on. please don’t turn a blind eye.”


Grande pointed out that, while the effects of COVID-19 may generally be less severe in younger people – who make up the majority of her fans – they still carried a responsibility to think about who they could be infecting.

“it is incredibly dangerous and selfish to take this situation that lightly,” she continued. “the ‘we will be fine because we’re young’ mindset is putting people who aren’t young and / or healthy in a lot of danger. you sound stupid and privileged and you need to care more about others. like now.”

In a follow-up tweet, Grande added: “like your hip hop yoga class can fucking wait i promise.” See the original tweet in full below.

Perhaps a case in point, earlier today (March 15) Waka Flocka Flame stated his belief that coronavirus is “fake” and that “minorities can’t catch it”.

The ongoing pandemic is continuing to spread around the world, with hundreds of gigs and tours being postponed or cancelled due to fears around the virus.


Being interviewed on Real 92.3’s The Cruz Show, the Atlanta rapper was asked if he was concerned about being personally affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.

“It’s fake,” he replied. Minorities can’t catch it.”

“Name one though,” he said to the show’s hosts, asking them to name a minority who has contracted the virus.

“We all descended from the same persons. Now, did we catch it? It hit the people passing through [Atlanta] airport, it ain’t touch them soulful folks.”