Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande have lifted the lid on their recent viral moment.
Last month, the Wicked stars sat down for an interview with EqualPride journalist Tracy E. Gilchrist for Out magazine, which wound up racking up millions of views the world over thanks to the bizarre way things unfolded.
It all began with Cynthia’s impassioned response to Tracy’s claim that people had been “taking the lyrics to Defying Gravity and really holding space with that and feeling power in that” in the week leading up to the interview.
“I didn’t know that that was happening, that’s really powerful, that’s what I wanted,” an emotional Cynthia responded, before tearfully reiterating: “I didn’t know that was happening.”
In one of the most-memed moments from the interview, Tracy said she’d “seen it on a couple of posts”, adding: “I don’t know how widespread [it is], but, you know, I am in queer media…”
Over the weekend, the pair were asked about the interview by Variety, with Ariana admitting: “I didn’t know what any part of it meant.”
“I didn’t understand the first sentence, and then I definitely didn’t understand how [Cynthia] responded,” the Grammy winner claimed. “I was like, ‘oh, what did she say? And what did you hear?’.”
She joked: “I just wanted to be there, because I knew something big was happening. And I didn’t know how to be there.”
“And then after a while, I didn’t know how to be there,” Cynthia agreed.
Reflecting on the confusing conversation, Ariana continued: “She said something that meant something to her – that meant something totally different to you. And then she tried to kind of get somewhere else. And the craziest thing was, I remember in the moment, asking myself, ‘am I OK? Did I not hear something?’.”
“I don’t know what the tapping was about, but that happened,” she added, of the moment she grabbed Cynthia’s finger and gently tapped it, which the Harriet star commented was a result of the “tension” in the room.
Ariana added: “I just am glad and feel really relieved that the world had the same experience with this moment that I did, because I felt like, ‘oh I’m not broken’.”
“I do love how the world has gone with it,” Cynthia concluded with a smile.
Last month, Tracy gave an interview of her own in which she pointed out that the interview had taken place the day after the US election, which informed her choice of questioning.
Tracy explained: “I was a little thrown off by [Cynthia’s] response because it was so sincere and real. I was a little flustered. I could have said, ‘I have all these friends, and this is our conversation’. But instead I said, ‘I’m in queer media’. It’s a catchphrase now!”
Ariana recently heaped praise on her “queen” Tracy, writing on TikTok: “Holding space with you always.”