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

Screenshot of Stephen Colbert
CBS

Stephen Colbert Makes Somber Plea To Americans In Wake Of Charlie Kirk's Death

Late-night host Stephen Colbert had a somber message for Americans as he addressed the assassination of far-right activist Charlie Kirk, stressing that "political violence only leads to more political violence."

Kirk died after an unidentified gunman shot him in the neck as he—ironically enough—mocked victims of gun violence at an event in Utah Valley State University. Kirk's murder has galvanized the far-right, with President Donald Trump and his surrogates claiming without evidence that rhetoric from Democrats is responsible for Kirk's death.

Keep ReadingShow less
a woman sunbathing on rocks.
a person sitting on a towel on a beach
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

People Share The Weirdest Flexes They Heard Someone Say With A Straight Face

It is never attractive to gloat.

Even so, some people can't help but brag, or "flex" as it is sometimes known, about certain accomplishments or attributes.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @thedowntheredoc's TikTok video
@thedowntheredoc/TikTok

TikToker Hilariously Calls Out Target After Champion Pants Feature Awkwardly-Placed Front Pleat

Sometimes you can just tell when something was designed *for* women, but was not actually designed *by* women.

Take, for instance, the new pleated pants available at Target from the Champion clothing line. While there's nothing wrong with pleated pants and they certainly have a suitable spot in the workplace, the latest rendition of Champion pleated pants are, shall we say, NSFW.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @kaicutch's Instagram video
@kaicutch/Instagram

Woman Flips Her Car After Belting Out Ironic Britney Spears Lyric In Wild Viral Video

Whether we want to admit it or not, we've all had our fair share of carpool karaoke and maybe even imagined our car as our own personal recording studio.

But TikToker and Instagrammer Kaitlynn McCutcheon may have gotten too into her performance of Britney Spears' classic, "Hit Me Baby, One More Time," when the road and her car both said, "Bet."

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from ​@lynnshazeen's TikTok video
@lynnshazeen/TikTok

Woman Goes Viral After Revealing How Her Obsession With Matcha Landed Her In The Hospital

Let's be honest: Too much of anything isn't good for us. It's all about the balance!

But the media and social media trends have taught us that certain things are really good for us, encouraging us to be like the "very mindful and very demure" girls and take care of ourselves. One such example is drinking more matcha, especially if you really like coffee or think you have a caffeine addiction.

Keep ReadingShow less