Ariana Grande Responds to Pete Davidson’s ‘Unfortunate’ Manchester Bombing Joke

Ariana Grande is standing by her fiancé Pete Davidson through good times and bad.

The Saturday Night Live star has been dealing with heavy criticism after a joke he had made about the tragic bombing that took place during Grande’s concert at the Manchester Arena last May, which left 23 dead, resurfaced earlier this month.

Davidson — whose firefighter father, Scott, died in service during the Sept. 11 attacks — allegedly mocked the pop star and the bombing during a stand-up benefit show at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles last fall, in which he reportedly joked, “Britney Spears didn’t have a terrorist attack at her concert.”

After the joke made its rounds through social media the mother of 15-year-old Olivia Campbell-Hardy, one of the victims of the attack, said Davidson should apologize for his remark calling it “heartbreaking and outrageous.”

“For anyone to joke about this situation is disgusting and I think he should publicly apologize for it,” Charlotte Hodgson said Sunday. She added that other families of the Manchester bombing victims “will find it equally as disgusting.”

“We don’t need jokes about it, there have been plenty around, and it’s heartbreaking to hear every day. But for someone so famous to be doing it and now to be with Ariana, it’s outrageous,” Hodgson said.

Grande finally broke her silence on the joke controversy, Entertainment Tonight reports, responding to a fan who felt Davidson’s comment should have offended Grande.

“I respect Ariana and I want her to be happy and everything, but she was just broken after the Manchester bombing, so I don’t know why she is still with Pete. Like, yeah, he made that joke a while ago, but like it’s not funny, it’s just rude. This is my opinion,” the user wrote.

“This has been [very] tough & conflicting on my heart,” Grande replied. “He uses comedy to help people feel better ab how f—ked up things in this world are.”

“We all deal with trauma differently,” she continued. “I of course didn’t find it funny. It was months ago & his intention wasn’t/ is never malicious but it was unfortunate.”

The comments from Grande come a few days after a source told PEOPLE Davidson’s joke was taken out of context.

“The joke was taken out of context,” the source said. “[Davidson] lost his dad in 9/11 and is close with other victims of violent tragedies. As a way of coping he turns to humor.”

The source continued, “He’s obviously sensitive to tragedy as he lost his own father and his intention is to just make people laugh.”

The scandal doesn’t seem to have affected the singer and comedian’s whirlwind romance, as the two were spotted around New York City looking as smitten as ever.