Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Frankie Grande Absolutely Melted Down With Pride Over Sister Ariana's Oscar Performance

Frankie Grande Absolutely Melted Down With Pride Over Sister Ariana's Oscar Performance
@FrankieJGrande/X

The Wicked star's brother couldn't contain his emotions while watching his sister, Ariana Grande, open the Oscars with an Oz-inspired medley.

Wicked star Ariana Grande's brother, Frankie, cried happy tears while watching Grande alongside Cynthia Erivo perform the opening number for the 97th Academy Awards.

The performance was a medley of songs from three adaptations of The Wizard of Oz.


Grande, 31, sang a soulful rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" from the classic 1939 movie, while Erivo, 38, soared with her vocals on "Home" from the 1975 Broadway musical The Wiz.

The set concluded with the "Thank U, Next" pop star joining Erivo in singing "Defying Gravity" to reprise their characters from their screen adaptation of Broadway's Wicked.

Grande then gave her bestie the floor as Erivo channeled Elphaba once more to hit the climactic notes from the musical's empowering Act One finale.

Frankie, who is Grande's maternal half-brother, filmed a video at an Oscars home-viewing party on Sunday, showing snippets of the evening's opening number on a TV monitor and periodically cutting to selfie mode to show his emotional teary reactions.

The 42-year-old Broadway performer and producer of cabaret acts, including his one-man show, shared the video on X (formerly Twitter) and wrote:

"Well, that’s the gay superbowl. Best opening to an Oscar’s ever! Of all time!"

His caption was followed by a series of emojis representing a red stiletto, tears, a rainbow, and a broom.

The entire room erupted in cheers in response to Grande's Glinda character belting out "I hope you're happy" to Erivo's Elphaba before her epic battle cry that got the Academy Award audience rising to their feet for a standing-O.

The video concluded with Frankie turning the camera back on him and exclaiming:

"Are you f'king kidding me?!"

He certainly wasn't alone in his revelry over the triumphant number.











Wicked is a two-part film adaptation of the smash 2003 Broadway musical, loosely based on Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which in turn is inspired by the characters in L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz that blew away audiences around the world.

It nabbed ten Academy Award nominations, including for Best Actress (Erivo), Best Supporting Actress (Grande), and Best Picture.

The commercially successful movie was a huge box office hit that made grown men cry.

But the musical movie ultimately took home only two awards: Best Costume Design for Paul Tazewell and Best Production Design for Lee Sandales and Nathan Crowley.

The second film, Wicked: For Good, is scheduled for a November 2025 release, which could give another opportunity for the stars to have a chance at scoring a repeat Oscar nod or maybe even a win.

No matter the outcome, big brother Grande will still be beaming with pride for l'il sis.

More from Entertainment/celebrities

Miriam Margolyes
David Levenson/Getty Images

'Harry Potter' Star Miriam Margolyes Offers Mic Drop Explanation For Why Respecting Pronouns Matters

Sometimes it is just that easy to make people happy. This is a lesson learned over and over in our lives, but that's because it's an important one.

Actor Miriam Margolyes shared how she learned to change her behavior to make others happier. Margolyes appeared on The Graham Norton Show recently and brought up a fairly polarizing subject in the United Kingdom: trans people.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk looks on during a public appearance, as the billionaire once again turns a newsroom style decision into a culture-war grievance broadcast to millions on X.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

Elon Musk Cries Racism After Associated Press Explains Why They Capitalize 'Black' But Not 'White'

Elon Musk has spent the year picking fights, from health research funding to imagined productivity crises among federal workers and whether DOGE accomplished anything at all besides leaving chaos in its wake.

His latest grievance, however, is thinly disguised as grammatical. Specifically, he is once again furious that the Associated Press (AP) capitalizes “Black” while keeping “white” lowercase.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk; Yale University School of Engineering and Applied Science
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images; Plexi Images/GHI/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Elon Musk Gets Brutal Wakeup Call After Claiming That Yale's Lack Of Republican Faculty Is 'Outrageous Bigotry'

Elon Musk—who has repeatedly whined about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)—took to his social media platform to whine about a lack of conservative faculty at Yale University.

Musk shared data compiled by The Buckley Institute (TBI), a conservative-leaning organization founded at Yale in 2010. TBI found 82.3% of faculty self-identified as Democrats or primarily supporting Democratic candidates, 15% identified as independents, while only 2.3% identified as Republicans.

Keep ReadingShow less
Barry Manilow
Mat Hayward/Getty Images

Barry Manilow Speaks Out After Postponing Farewell Tour Dates Due To Lung Cancer Scare

"Looks Like We Made It" singer Barry Manilow is in the process of saying goodbye to the stage and meeting his fans in-person, but he has to press pause for a few months after receiving a jarring diagnosis.

On December 22, 2025, the "Mandy" singer posted on Facebook, explaining that a "cancerous spot" had been discovered on his left lung.

Keep ReadingShow less
Chris Evans as Steve Rogers in Avengers: Endgame, the last time audiences saw Captain America before his unexpected return was teased for Avengers: Doomsday.
Disney/Marvel Studios

Marvel Just Confirmed That Chris Evans Is Returning For 'Avengers: Doomsday'—And Fans Have Mixed Feelings

Folks, once again, continuity is more of a suggestion than a rule in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel has officially confirmed that Chris Evans is returning as Steve Rogers in Avengers: Doomsday, and the internet has responded exactly how you’d expect: screaming, celebrating, arguing, and a very justified side-eye toward how Sam Wilson keeps getting treated.

The confirmation comes via a teaser now playing exclusively in theaters ahead of Avatar: Fire and Ash. There is no official online release, despite leaks circulating. If you didn’t catch it on the big screen, Marvel’s response is essentially: sorry, guess you had to be there.

Keep ReadingShow less