"I was infatuated with serial killers when I was younger," Ariana confessed on the Podcrushed podcast on Monday.
She told the hosts, Penn Badgley, Sophie Ansari, and Nava Kavelin, that she previously revealed this information during a Q&A with "young fans."
"It was in between me being Cat [on Sam & Cat] and pop stuff," Ariana said, "so it was like a younger group, and they were with parents, and someone said, 'If you could have dinner with anyone living or dead, who would it be?'"
"I was like, 'Oh, you're so cute,'" she continued, remembering she asked their parents if it would be OK to answer truthfully. "They were like, 'Sure, what’s the answer?' and I was like, 'I mean, Jeffrey Dahmer is pretty fascinating.'"
"I think I would have loved to have met him," she said, smiling. "You know, maybe with a third party or someone involved. But I have questions."
While Sophie and Nava laughed, people online didn't find it funny.
"We are not joking about a serial killer who murdered with impunity because the police did not care about black men and gay men. Kindly f*** off!" one redditor wrote.
"Unless the question is 'which serial killer would you have dinner with' and you have a gun to your head there’s no damn reason to say this," another commented in part.
Someone else said Ariana's comments were "vile" and "horribly offensive" to the families of Dahmer's victims.
"Full fucking stop. Ain’t nothing cute, edgy, cool, or okay with saying this," another declared. A fan agreed, "That’s such a disgusting thing to say."
So far, Ariana hasn't addressed the criticism, but we'll let you know if she does. Until then, you can view her comments here around the 30:50 mark.
