Doughnut Shop Penalized over Ariana Grande ‘Licking’ Incident, But What About Ariana?

The doughnut shop where pop star Ariana Grande licked and spit on several doughnuts last weekend was docked a letter grade in its health rating on Thursday after a health inspector said the doughnuts never should have been left out on the counter in the first place.

The Riverside County Department of Environmental Health handed Wolfee Donuts in Lake Elsinore a score of 86 out of 100, a “B” rating, down from the store’s “A” rating at its last inspection, according to a Department release.

The inspection report does not mention Grande by name, but does make reference to “a video” in which “some customers” were observed to be “licking the donuts.”

Department inspector Jenay Marcotte docked points from the doughnut shop for not having “food separated and protected for contamination” and for the “major violation” of having a dishwasher that did not adequately clean store utensils. The store was also written up for a number of smaller violations that contributed to its score being lowered.

Wolfee Donuts’ penalty comes as Riverside County sheriff’s department say they they do not believe Grande committed a crime during the July 4 incident, in which the pop singer and a male friend licked the doughnuts before Grande said, “I hate Americans. I hate America.”

Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Mike Manning told Breitbart News that the investigation into the incident remains “ongoing.”

Doughnut shop owner Joe Marin told the Press-Enterprise that it is not the store’s practice to leave doughnuts unattended, rather his employee simply left a tray of doughnuts on the countertop while stocking the display case. When Grande walked in, the employee stopped what she was doing to attend to her.

“What she (Grande) did was wrong,” Marin told the paper.

Marin’s shop has one week to fix the violations before it is re-inspected, according to the Environmental Health department. Wolfee Donuts can remain open while it corrects the violations.

Grande apologized Wednesday for her choice of words, but did not specifically address the donut-licking allegations.

“I am EXTREMELY proud to be an American and I’ve always made it clear that I love my country,” Grande said. “As an advocate for healthy eating, food is very important to me and I sometimes get 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.”