Ariana Grande Doesn’t Exactly Shut Down the Rumor That She and Cynthia Erivo Are Opening the Oscars: ‘We’ll Be Ready’
Vincent Perella
A few days ago, a rumor sent the internet into a frenzy when it was reported that Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande would perform a medley from “Wicked” to open the Oscars next month. Variety asked Erivo about the rumor at the Critics Choice Awards, and while she said, “I don’t know where this has come from,” the rumors have still been circulating since.
Last night, at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, IndieWire caught up with Grande, who was accepting the Virtuoso Award alongside fellow honorees Selena Gomez, Fernanda Torres, Mikey Madison, Sebastian Stan, Clarence Maclin, Monica Barbaro, John Magaro, Harris Dickinson, and Kieran Culkin. “What did Cynthia say?,” Grande asked with a laugh upon being asked about opening this year’s Academy Awards.
After IndieWire told her that Erivo doesn’t know where the rumor came from, Grande said, slyly, “Yeah, I don’t know either. It would be really fun. We will have our thermoses, our pink and green thermoses, filled with tea. Hers will probably be rose and an English breakfast mixed together or something like that. In case, we’ll be ready, but I know nothing.”
Separately, Grande is a massive fan and supporter of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” and she guest judged on Season 15 back in 2023. Of the latest cycle, she said, “I am watching this season of ‘Drag Race,’ but I’m not up to speed.”
“I’m still getting to know everyone,” the Oscar nominee continued. “But I really love Onya Nurve, and I really love Lexi Love, she’s so sweet. I love her so much. Her energy is amazing and I really like the tapper, Suzie Toot. I like her a lot. I think everyone is beautiful. It’s very fun, but I’m not up to date, so that’s off the top of my head how I feel.”
Grande recently spoke with IndieWire about the consideration the cast and crew put into making Best Picture nominee “Wicked”: “Every single person involved led with that same intentionality and thoughtfulness,” she said. “And nothing wasn’t thought of. Every page on the books that are on the table that you don’t even get to see opened, they’re written about Ozian history. And the journals next to our beds are filled with scribbles. It’s a real world when we all care as much as everyone else. And we all walk into the space with the awareness that everyone feels this same responsibility. I’m not alone in that.”
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