Ariana Grande hit with lemon at Coachella

Ariana Grande performs at Coachella Stage during the 2019 Coachella Valley Music. Photo / Getty

Ariana Grande was hit with a lemon at Coachella in an apparent protest because she was 'paid more than Beyonce'.

Some have speculated that the citrus was thrown by a Beyonce fan — whose sixth album was titled Lemonade — after it was claimed that the No Tears Left to Cry singer was actually paid more than Queen Bey to headline the Californian music festival.

Grande, 25, closed Coachella with an epic set that included an appearance from Justin Bieber - his first performance in about two years.

But it all hit a sour note when an unidentified crowd member hurled the lemon at her.

Footage from the incident has circulated on social media, with one clip showing Ari get hit on the chest by the lemon, as she danced on stage,The Sun reports.

The thank u, next singer promptly stopped her performance, telling the crowd: "That's because one of y'all threw a lemon at me, s***."

Grande then ran off the stage before quickly recovering and launching into a performance of her song, NASA.

Grande's fans were outraged at the fruity attack, taking to Twitter to vent their anger … and share conspiracy theories as to who was behind it.

One name who came up? Beyonce.

An Ariana fan wrote: "Throwing a lemon at Ariana Grande? How dare you."
Another asked: "Which one of y'all Beyonce stans threw a lemon at Ariana Grande?"

A third said: "A f*** you to the person who threw that lemon at Ariana."

The incident came after it was reported that Grande was paid $AUD 8 million to headline Coachella in the Sunday night slot, which was said to be "double" what Beyonce was paid for her epic 2018 gig.

However, The Blast later revealed that Beyonce had actually been paid about the same for each of the two Coachella weekend performances.

Grande has not yet commented on lemon-gate.

Meantime, the New York-based singer opened up about the toll her Sweetener tour is taking.

After one fan speculated about Grande not spending as much time on social media, she responded that she doesn't "have anything" to give her fans.

"I just feel empty and i wanna have more to say / better energy to give to u and rn i don't have anything. love u," Grande wrote.