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Leaked Emails Show White House Rejected Ariana Grande After #DonutGate

Grande non grata.
Dangerous woman.
Eduardo Munoz / Reuters
Dangerous woman.
Dangerous woman.
Eduardo Munoz / Reuters
Dangerous woman.

How many licks does it take to get the White House to reject you?

According to an email Wikileaks published in a massive hack of the Democratic National Committee database on Friday, just one. After pop star Ariana Grande was captured on video in 2015 licking donuts she had no intention of buying, the singer seemingly tried to recover from the ensuing scandal with a performance at a White House gala.

In a correspondence between DNC Finance Chair Zachary Allen and White House employees, he asks for officials to vet Grande.

Even though the 23-year-old’s criminal and financial record seems to be problem-free, the fallout from #DonutGate proved to be too controversial for Washington, according to Gawker.

What follows is highly detailed analysis of the controversy with particular attention paid to Grande’s “I hate America” comment in the video, which she later profusely apologized for in two lengthy YouTube posts. The reaction of Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) to the scandal is also flagged as a potential issue. Duncan called out America’s “double standard” for protecting Grande, while lambasting presidential hopeful Donald Trump for his anti-Mexican rhetoric.

The singer’s defense of her brother Frankie Grande is included in the report as well, after the singer shut down homophobic commenters on Twitter.

“He is incredible and i am SO proud!!!!,” she wrote at the time. “Oh and also ‘that homo’ gets more a** than you’ll ever get in your life. k miss thing?”

Summarizing the charges brought against Grande, staffer Kevin Snowden wrote, “Ariana Butera-video caught her licking other peoples’ donuts while saying she hates America; Republican Congressman used this video and said it was a double standard that liberals were not upset with her like they are with Trump who criticized Mexicans; cursed out a person on Twitter after that person used an offensive word towards her brother.”

To which White House employee Bobby Schmuck replied, “Nope, sorry.”

Read the full email correspondence here.

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