Suicide bomber kills 22 at Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England

NBC: Police confirm suicide attack killed 22 people attending Ariana Grande concert. NBC reported that British police confirmed that a suicide bomber killed 22 people after an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. From the May 22 article:

Children were among the 22 people killed in a suicide attack after an Ariana Grande concert at Britain's Manchester Arena, police confirmed Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Manchester Police Chief Constable Ian Hopkins identified the suicide bomber responsible for the carnage as 22-year-old Salman Abedi and warned angry residents against any reprisals.

“We understand that feelings are very raw right now and people are looking for answers,” he said. “We will not tolerate hate towards any parts of our community.” NBCNews.com, 5/22/17]

Pro-Trump media used news of the attack to smear the pop star online

Pro-Trump Facebook page “Patriots For America USA” shared an image and posted text smearing Grande as “Anti-American.” Pro-Trump Facebook page “Patriots for America USA” created a graphic image and accompanying text post that used Grande’s prior progressive activism and out-of-context statements about America to portray her as “anti-American.” The post was shared more than 23,000 times on Facebook at the time of publication and was copied and pasted verbatim into numerous pro-Trump Facebook meme groups, where it reached hundred of thousands of Trump supporters.

[Facebook.com, accessed 5/23/17]

“The Donald” subreddit featured links to Grande’s prior “anti-American” comments and spread the “Patriots For America USA" post.

[Reddit.com, 5/22/17, 5/22/17]

Troll Mike Cernovich tweeted the “I hate Americans” graphic circulating on pro-Trump social media.

[Twitter.com, 5/22/17 (since deleted)]

Rebel Media’s Jack Posobiec also tweeted the graphic.

[Twitter.com, 5/22/17]

Paul Joseph Watson used Grande’s prior anti-Trump tweets to criticize her after terror attack.

[Twitter.com, 5/23/17]

Trump ally Wayne Allyn Root “can only hope” Grande can “wake up” from her “liberal ignorance” after terror attack at her show.

[Twitter.com, 5/23/17]

White supremacist and Trump fanboy David Duke pushed Grande’s “anti-American” quote.

[Twitter.com, 5/23/17]

4Chan’s right-wing “/pol/” board attacked Grande for her“I hate America” comment.

[4Chan.org, accessed 5/23/17]

Grande’s “I hate America” quote was made in reaction to a donut (seriously).

Hollywood Reporter: When a donut shop employee showed Grande a rack of donuts, she said, “I hate Americans,” and she has since apologized. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Grande said, “I hate Americans. I hate America,” while reacting to a “new tray of donuts” brought out by a doughnut shop employee. Grande later apologized for the statement, Hollywood Reporter detailed, explaining that she was simply “upset by how freely we as Americans eat and consume things” without thinking about health. She stated that she was “extremely proud to be an American.” From the July 7, 2015, article:

Ariana Grande likes the taste of doughnuts, but she “hates” America and Americans.

In security footage obtained by TMZ, the pop singer was in a doughnut shop and appeared to lick unpurchased doughnuts on a display rack twice while the shop's employee wasn't looking.

Grande was accompanied by three friends, and the footage shows her kissing one of the two men, who also appeared to lick one of the doughnuts. Grande laughed out loud after he seemingly licked a doughnut and walked away.

When the shop employee returned with a new tray of doughnuts, Grande asked, “What the f— is that?”

“I hate Americans,” she continued. “I hate America.”

On July 8, the singer issued an apology for her “poor choice of words” in a statement, saying that she is “extremely proud to be an American” and was simply “upset by how freely we as Americans eat and consume things without giving any thought to the consequences that it has on our health and society as a whole.” [The Hollywood Reporter, 7/7/15]