Grindr's Publication Apologizes for Controversial Article About Ariana Grande

Grindr's news website INTO is apologizing after punishing a controversial article that critiqued Ariana Grande's new music video "Thank U, Next."

The publication's editor-in-chief, Zach Stafford, issued the statement Tuesday, saying he was "personally sorry" for allowing his team to publish the story, The Huffington Post reports.

"We as editors failed the writer by not working with her to ensure the piece met our standards," Stafford wrote. "Moving forward, I am working with the entire INTO team to ensure something like this doesn't happen again."

"We at INTO really try our hardest every day to tell stories and have conversations with LGBTQ people that benefit the community, whether it's on pop culture moments or reporting on LGBTQ asylum-seekers and immigration," he added. "And we can only keep doing this if we hold ourselves accountable."

The article in question, called "Ariana Grande's 'Thank U, Next' Music Video is Surprisingly Anti-Queer," was published Monday and quickly made its way around Twitter. In the piece, the author writes the video is "laden with transmisogyny, anti-queer jokes, and blackface."

"The individualistic sentiment could be empowering for the white, cisgender, straight feminists who are represented in the video," the piece reads. "Of course, this is at the expense of queer people, trans women, and people of color."

Among those who took issue with the article was out pop singer Troye Siva, who appears in the video and has collaborated with Grande.

"This literally can't be real I'm scream," he tweeted.

"RuPaul's Drag Race" star Tatiana also tweeted about the article.

"I'm sorry but this is the farthest reaching article I've read in my whole entire life. Like realllllly trying to make something from absolutely nothing. Wild," the performer wrote.

After sparking controversy, INTO removed the author's name from the piece as they were allegedly receiving death threats. In his statement, Stafford added that the publication cut ties with the writer due to "concerning allegations" but did not go into further detail.

"Given the seriousness of these allegations, I personally spoke with the writer and immediately launched an internal investigation," he wrote. "INTO was not aware of these until Monday after publishing. And the writer will not be contributing to INTO for the time being."

The article is still live and comes with an editor's note that reads:

Editor's Note: We have decided to remove the author's name from this piece after the editorial team was alerted that a high number of death threats were being made against the writer as a result of the opinions presented in this piece.

INTO has historically been a place for varying opinions from LGBTQ people around the world, and will remain such a place – but these opinions never warrant violence. And when a writer's own life could potentially be at stake, we must take necessary steps to ensure their safety.

Click here to read the article and watch the "Thank U, Next" video below.