Ariana Grande’s Recent Instagram Activity Suggests That She’s Fully Aware Of All The Distasteful Cynthia Erivo Memes, And People Feel Really Bad

Leyla Mohammed

Mon, December 1, 2025 at 2:42 p.m. UTC

3 min read

Last week, a viral video by @thefilmdiva called out the way Cynthia Erivo is being depicted in comedic videos after shielding Ariana Grande from an aggressive fan on a red carpet.

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo on a red carpet — Suhaimi Abdullah / Getty Images

If you missed it, Ariana and Cynthia were walking the carpet at the Wicked: For Good premiere in Singapore last month when a fan broke through the crowd and grabbed Ariana. Cynthia immediately rushed in, pushing the fan off and yelling, “Let go of her!” before comforting Ari, who was visibly shocked.

Cynthia and Ariana hugging — Darren Gerrish / Getty Images

The moment was later distastefully mocked online by numerous people, and @thefilmdiva called out the way in which Cynthia was being portrayed in most of the memes. “I honestly do not find what’s funny with all of these different memes and videos villainizing and making fun of Cynthia Erivo,” she said, before pointing out that the videos mocking the incident were mainly coming from men.

Cynthia and Ariana on a red carpet — Gareth Cattermole / Getty Images

“I don’t like it at all. I feel like there’s a lot of underlying tones of racism, misogyny… Why is it always men? Why are you making her very masculine?” she questioned.

Several internet users immediately agreed with the critique. One person said, “I don’t understand why they are masculinising her. She protects her friends just like anyone should and I hate how they are making her seem big, manly or intimidating,” while someone else wrote, “It’s so weird how they can’t recognize her protecting Ariana as a feminine thing. It just screams forced masculinity on black women. Cynthia is KNOWN for her acrylic nails and glamorous nature, how is THAT masculine?”

Instagram comment criticizing the masculinization of Cynthia, expressing disapproval of making her seem manly or intimidating — @thefilmdiva / Via instagram.com

“she literally has the exact same frame as ariana, she just happened to stand up for her,” someone else pointed out.

Artist SZA was among those in the comments, too, branding Cynthia’s treatment as “CLASSIC Misogynoir.” “can’t believe it’s openly a thing in 2025 .. everyone’s gonna have cognitive dissonance 2 years later like ‘remember when everyone attacked Cynthia for being black bald and nurturing?… that was crazy’ ..it could jus stop now lol,” she wrote.

Instagram comment by SZA addressing misgynoir, mentions future disbelief in 2025, recalls past events with public figures, and suggests stopping — @thefilmdiva / Via instagram.com

And now, eagle-eyed fans have noticed that Ariana actually liked the video herself.

Instagram post: User finds Cynthia Erivo's videos unfunny and weird, asking others for their opinions. Ariana has liked the post — @thefilmdiva / Via instagram.com

“Ariana Grande liking this really says something 😢,” one person commented. “GLAD SHE LIKED IT, i hope people realize this isnt funny,” someone else said.

Instagram comment reads: "Ariana Grande liking this really says something," with a pensive face and a heart emoji — @thefilmdiva / Via instagram.com

“The fact that she liked this means she has seen all the awful ones. Celebrities are still people, this is sad,” one user wrote, while another said, “ariana liked this video… they really are seeing everything said about them & that’s upsetting.”

“This whole situation already had me sad but knowing they’re online seeing it just makes me feel worse,” someone tweeted.