Age-old beef between Elvira (Cassandra Peterson) and Ariana Grande has been given new life, causing the second "Wicked"-adjacent controversy in weeks.
At a recent event, Peterson detailed an incident that took place seven years ago with someone whose name "rhymes with Pariana Mande," which ended up being a shady encounter that planted a seed for a deep-rooted grudge that is now yielding poisoned fruit, just in time for Halloween.
A clip of Peterson describing her less-than-pleasant exchange with Grande so many years ago has amassed millions of views on TikTok, resulting in an after-the-fact apology from the actor and pop star, in which she blamed her rudeness on an anxiety attack.
What exactly happened between Peterson and Grande? Salon explains it all below.
What went down between Elvira and Ariana Grande?
This slow-simmering beef came to light at a Knott's Scary Farm event that Peterson made an appearance at over the weekend of Oct. 19. In the now-viral clip shared to TikTok by an Elvira fan account, the self-proclaimed Queen of Halloween describes her run-in with Grande at an event that took place nearly a decade ago, saying, "I'll tell you briefly . . . she came and she brought 20 guests, so she wanted 20, 21 tickets . . . We're like, 'Okay,' and we give her the tickets. She comes backstage and she asks if I could take pictures with all of her friends and relatives she brought. I take a picture with every single one of them. I sign autographs for every single one of them. Then I say to her, 'Can we take a photo together?' She goes, 'Nah, I don't really do that.' "
Hearing this, a person on the panel with Peterson said, "She's playing the wrong witch!"
The sharing of this incident has led to Elvira's fans railing against Grande, with one person clocking into the mess with a comment to the video stating, "I don't think Ariana understands that when her and Elvira are in a room, Elvira is the celebrity, not her."
How did Ariana Grande respond?
Before Grande could address the incident, Peterson posted a news headline and corresponding article with the attached video of her answer at the panel event to her 1.5 million followers on Instagram.
"Story time! Context is everything!" the caption read, doubling down with a hashtag of Grande's name.
Shortly after this was posted, Grande took to the comments to explain her point of view and apologize for the interaction.
"I’m so disheartened to see this. I actually don’t even remember getting the chance to meet you because I had an anxiety attack and to my memory, left before the rest of my family," she wrote.
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The "Wicked" star described her state of mind during the interaction, writing, "This was around 7 years ago and at the time I was really not great with being in public crowds or loud places . . but if I’m misremembering this moment, I sincerely apologize for offending you so."
Seven years ago, Grande's Manchester, England concert was bombed which resulted in the death of 22 people. In an interview with Elle a year after the terrorist attack, she revealed that the tragedy led to her developing PTSD symptoms such as "wild dizzy spells" and "this feeling like I couldn't breathe."
Further into her apology to Peterson, Grande wrote, "Thank you for being so nice to my mom, she told me how lovely you were. She might have different feelings about that now but I’ll talk to her… clearly, we all have our days! Sending love always. You’ll always be our Queen of Halloween!"
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