Celebrity
Cynthia Erivo Defends Ariana Grande From Attendee At Wicked: For Good Premiere
The scary encounter was caught on camera.
The Wicked: For Good’s global press tour took a brief, tense turn during the cast’s stop in Singapore. As seen in fan footage from the Nov. 13 premiere event, Ariana Grande was walking the red carpet with several of her Wicked co-stars when an attendee jumped over a barrier and charged at her. The man put his arms around Grande and jumped up and down, seemingly cheering.
Michelle Yeoh — who had been holding Grande’s hand as they walked the carpet — attempted to pull her co-star away from the aggressor. Cynthia Erivo immediately moved to separate the man from Grande, successfully pushing him away until security could intervene.
After taking a moment to check in with her co-stars after the frightening encounter, Grande continued down the carpet flanked arm-in-arm by Erivo and Yeoh.
It’s not the first time Grande has faced alarming audience behavior on the latest Wicked tour. After flight delays prevented Grande from attending the film’s São Paulo premiere on Nov. 4, she apologized and — seemingly in response to backlash — asked her followers to “please don’t wish danger on us,” reiterating that she tried everything she could to be there.
The Wicked Cast’s IRL Friendship
The cast’s latest show of support came in response to a scary moment, but the Wicked family has proved their closeness in calmer times, too.
“To be able to act with this one and to share a space and to be a scene partner with you was the greatest privilege of my professional life,” Grande recently shared of Erivo on Today. “Let alone sing with her, the greatest singer in the entire world. I’m spoiled for life.”
Erivo, for her part, returned the love, explaining that she and Grande are like “opposite sides of the same coin,” and “each have something the other can love and can see themselves.”
The pair recently got matching “For Good” tattoos, and it wasn’t their first friendship ink. In fact, they actually got “many” tattoos together while filming, Erivo shared with The New York Times last year.
As she said of Grande in the same interview, “She taught me to handle this crazy beast that is emerging success, because I’ve had a measure of it but this is new. She’s really held my hand all the way through it and wants it for me just as much as I want for myself.”
