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

Donald Trump; Martin Luther King Jr.
Taylor Hill/FilmMagic/Getty Images; Jack Sheahan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Trump Ripped After Forcing National Parks To Drop Free Entry On MLK Day And Juneteenth For Infuriating Reason

President Donald Trump was criticized after the National Park Service announced it will be dropping Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth for next year's calendar of free-entry days and adding Trump's birthday, which happens to fall on Flag Day, on June 14.

Last month, the Department of the Interior unveiled changes to what it now calls its “resident-only patriotic fee-free days,” expanding the calendar to include new dates like the Fourth of July weekend and President Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday, while dropping others that had honored the department itself, including the Bureau of Land Management’s anniversary.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Juanita Broaddrick's tweet overlayed against a picture of the J. Crew sign
@atensnut/X; Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

MAGA Is Melting Down Over A Pink J. Crew Sweater For Men—And Our Eyes Can't Roll Hard Enough

MAGA fans are melting down over a $168 men's sweater from J. Crew with a fair-isle collar, claiming, in yet another example of the idiocy of the culture wars, that only liberals would actually wear it.

We know what you're thinking... Really?!

Keep ReadingShow less
Robert Garcia; Marjorie Taylor Greene
WWHL/Bravo; Daniel Heuer/AFP via Getty Images

Dem Rep. Has An Idea For A New Line Of Work For MTG After She Leaves Congress—And It Would Certainly Be Something

California Democratic Representative Robert Garcia was elected in November 2022 and even before being sworn in, he was locking horns with one-time MAGA darling and Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.

For years, MTG was best known as the QAnon conspiracy theory-spewing, State of the Union heckling, crossfit hyping, Trump ride-or-dying, anti-LGBTQ+ racist MAGA minion from Georgia.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump Jr.
Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images

Don Jr. Sparks Outrage After Startup Company He Backed Scores Massive Contract With Pentagon

Donald Trump Jr. is facing criticism after The Financial Times reported that Vulcan Elements, a startup he backed, scored a $620 million government contract with the Department of Defense.

The company said the deal falls under a broader $1.4 billion collaboration with the federal government and ReElement Technologies aimed at scaling up U.S. magnet production and strengthening the domestic supply chain.

Keep ReadingShow less

People Describe The Deepest Internet 'Rabbit Hole' They've Ever Fallen Down

Who amongst us hasn't wasted HOURS of life surfing the web for things we couldn't help being intrigued by?

Going on the internet for one quick look at a sale, then staying up until sunrise trying to uncover a 50-year-old unsolved murder mystery is totally normal.

Keep ReadingShow less