Pop Singer Ariana Grande Says She’ll Hold Benefit Concert for Manchester Victims

Grande performs in Phoenix, Arizona, in February. Kevin Mazur / Getty Images for Live Nation

Story by NBC News
Written by Kalhan Rosblatt
Video News Report by ABC News

Pop star Ariana Grande said today she would return to Manchester for a benefit concert to raise money for victims of the bombing that killed 22 people and injured 59 after her concert on Monday.

In the statement posted to Twitter, Grande wrote that she would return to the British city once she was able to confirm a date, and thanked her fans for their love and support.

"I have been thinking of my fans, and of you all, non stop over the past week," Grande wrote. "The way you have handled all of this has been more inspiring and made me more proud than you'll ever know."

She went on to say the love her fans have shown one another was the polar opposite of the "heinous intentions" of those behind the attack.

Grande said she intended her "Dangerous Woman" tour to be a "safe space" for her fans, where they could meet one another and enjoy her music.



"This will not change that. When you look into the audience at my shows, you see a beautiful, diverse, pure, happy crowd. Thousands of people, incredibly different, all there for the same reason, music."

She urged her fans to respond to the violence with love and kindness.

"I don't want to go the rest of the year without being able to see and hold and uplift my fans, the same way they continue to uplift me," Grande wrote. "Our response to this violence must be to come closer together, to help each other, to love more, to sing louder and live more kindly and generously than we did before."

Grande said other artists have reached out to her about performing at the benefit concert, but did not specify who.