Ariana Grande has made surprising headlines this year, and for good reason. The pop icon has come under fire for allegedly homewrecking her co-star, Ethan Slater’s, 10-year-long marriage. For context, Grande and Slater are both co-stars on the musical Wicked. The rumors of their romance surfaced after it was announced that Grande was divorcing her husband, Dalton Gomez. Around the same time, it was announced that Slater was divorcing his high school sweetheart, Lilly James, shortly after the birth of their firstborn child. After the announcement of their divorces, allegations of Grande and Slater’s romantic relationship started to spread across all social media platforms. People were shocked, to say the very least. As pictures of Grande and Slater started to emerge, the rumors of their romantic relationship started to gain some validity. To add insult to injury, according to Page Six, a source told media outlets that Slater’s ex-wife, Lilly James, made a statement that Grande was “not a girl’s girl.” However, the allegations of homewrecking have not been confirmed.
With more fuel being added to the fire, Grande and Slater had not addressed the claims for months since the allegations made headlines. However, Grande decided to subtly address the claims about her and Slater in a new song. Her song, “yes, and?” was released, and people were not having it. In the song, Grande talks about why people should not care about who she is sleeping with in a much more explicit way. The song was seen as a response to people calling her a homewrecker and other criticisms she had received throughout 2023. The song had gotten mixed reviews; some said it was a “girlboss moment,” and some viewed it as disrespectful to Slater’s ex-wife. People have also started to point out Grande’s track record of supposedly stealing men away from their partners.
My opinion on her response to her song, “yes, and?” is that it was very distasteful. First and foremost, I believe the allegations against Slater and Grande are true. The timelines of the divorces and their romance shortly after seem very suspicious to me. As for Grande’s song, I agree with opinions that regardless of whether she home wrecked their relationship or not, it is disrespectful to Slater’s ex-wife and newborn child. I say that this is disrespectful because the line she mentioned about her sex life was an obvious response to the allegations, not to mention a slap in the face to Lilly James. Overall, I would not call this scandal a good look for Ariana Grande.