Ariana Grande is the latest star to seemingly throw shade at Sydney Sweeney after she apparently refused to directly name her during a recent interview.
The Wicked: For Good actress, 32, appeared alongside co-star Bowen Yang in Vanity Fair’s latest Lie Detector Test, in which she asked the Pfannee actor, 35, a series of questions while he was hooked up to a polygraph test.
During the video, Grande asked Yang whether he thought she was a good kisser.
While Yang immediately burst into laughter, the Side to Side singer probed: ‘Do you think I was?’
‘Yeah, you were really good,’ Yang eventually replied, although the lie detector deemed his answer as ‘inconclusive.’
Continuing with her line of questioning, Grande then pulled out a photograph of Euphoria actress Sweeney, 28, and Yang together on the set of Saturday Night Live, and asked: ‘Was I better than this woman?’
‘You… were,’ Yang replied. ‘Because she and I did it in a very rushed way, because… she had to go downstairs for blocking.
‘We were like, “We gotta get Sydney out. We gotta shoot Sydney out in the next five minutes.”‘
Ariana Grande seemingly took a swipe at Sydney Sweeney in a Vanity Fair’s Lie Detector Test
Sweeney has faced mounting scrutiny in recent months after a string of controversies
Some viewers interpreted Grande calling Sweeney ‘this woman’ as a monumental snub amid the actress’ string of recent controversies.
‘Not Ari calling Sydney Sweeney “this woman,”‘ one said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Another posted: ‘Sydney Sweeney is getting all the hate this year.’
‘”This woman” shall hereby be her name in perpetuity,’ someone else agreed.
Many fans, however, furiously defended Grande and stressed that Vanity Fair’s latest Lie Detector Test almost always refers to other celebrities as ‘this man’ or ‘this woman.’
Taking to Reddit, one said: ‘I feel like this is nothing? For example, if you watched the Robert Pattinson and Jennifer Lawrence he refers to Rachel Zegler as this woman. It is a common thing during these videos.’
Agreeing, another commented: ‘Yup! It’s part of the schtick of these videos. Heighten the surprise, possibly get a rogue answer, etc etc.’
‘That’s just how they write the questions for these videos, this is a nothingburger,’ continued a third.
Wicked co-stars Grande and Bowen Yang on the set of Saturday Night Live in October 2024
Whether it was an accidental snub or not, Sweeney has come under fire in recent months over a string of controversies, including her American Eagle jeans campaign – which drew comparisons to the racist language of eugenicists – and her refusal to apologize or acknowledge the backlash.
She has also faced criticism over her new romance with divisive music exec Scooter Braun, who is Grande’s former manager Scooter Braun.
The pop star was signed to his management company, SB Projects, in early 2013.
In 2023, it was reported that Grande and others, including Demi Lovato and J Balvin, had parted ways with him.
Sweeney has been publicly called out by several celebrities in recent days, including former Orange is the Black star Ruby Rose and White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood.
Wood weighed in on Sweeney’s American Eagle controversy campaign on Instagram after celebrated photographer Misan Harriman condemned the actress’s GQ magazine interview, in which she shrugged off criticism.
‘Presuming that you are not a white supremacist, at least say how horrified you were by how this campaign was amplified and celebrated by unrepentant racists who believe in eugenics,’ he wrote.
‘At least recognize the harm your jeans campaign has caused black folk. The undertone of the campaign is that your genetics are superior to others – the play on words is clear as day and racists LOVED it!
‘So, presuming you didn’t know when you shot it, you certainly do now, and it matters. This ain’t it!’
Wood, who played free-spirited optimist Chelsea in series three of The White Lotus, commented on the post with a green nauseated-face emoji.
Her reaction attracted over a thousand likes in less than an hour and replies from fans applauding her stance.
