Ariana Grande defends Piers Morgan encounter amid backlash: 'I won't stop having conversations with people I disagree with'

Grande says she saw an opportunity to "pick [Morgan's] brains"

Ariana Grande has defended her “productive conversation” with Piers Morgan after some criticised her for her apparently sympathetic behaviour towards the TV host.

The singer said she saw her encounter with Morgan at an LA restaurant as an opportunity to “pick [his] brains” even though his views are generally “opposite” to hers.

Grande responded to a tweet mentioning her and Morgan’s previous Twitter spat over Little Mix, whom Morgan accused last year of using their “nudity” to “succeed” – to which Grande had publicly replied that “women can be sexual AND talented”.

“We spoke about that,” Grande said on Twitter of the previous dispute over Little Mix.

“I am a peaceful but passionate person and I will kindly say everything on my mind to a person’s face if I have the chance. Which I did.

“I don’t understand what is so evil about having conversations with people. In what world did I excuse what he has said?”

She added: “In fact that’s why I sat down with him in the first place. I saw an opportunity to pick someone so opposite’s brain and try to talk some sense into them which i understand is highly unlikely but I will not apologise for trying. That’s all.”

Grande said in a follow-up message she was “anything but complacent” during her conversation with Morgan, adding: “I won’t stop having conversations with people I disagree with when I see the opportunity to.”

Morgan shared a photo of himself with Grande earlier this week on Twitter, saying they had spoken for about two hours.

“We laughed, we argued, she cried, I nearly did, the drinks flowed and we bonded,” he wrote. “Turns out we really like each other. Weird.”

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The message left some Twitter users baffled, including one person who wrote: “Ew Ariana why.”

Someone else tweeted: “ARIANA NO,” while another person wrote: “Don’t like this.”

In addition to their spat over Little Mix, Morgan criticised Grande after the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing for not immediately visiting the victims of the attack. He apologised after Grande held the One Love Manchester concert, saying he had misjudged her.