Ariana Grande was nominated for the best performance by a female actor in a supporting role in a film for her performance in Wicked as Glinda at the Golden Globes last evening, and along with that nomination came a few too many interviews. Every year, there seems to be at least one reporter who just takes the questions too far and makes fans cringe, but this one might be a bit over the top.
Grande was interviewed by quite a few, but her interview with Access Online stuck out a bit more than the others. During the interview, she was asked a few questions, one of them being “Who was the first person you called when you found out you were nominated?” Seems harmless, right? It definitely was… until it wasn’t. Ariana took a moment to think about it, and shared that she called her mother first, but that’s where things start to get a bit uncomfortable. Immediately after she responded, the reporter asked “Is your grandmother still alive?” While Grande handled the question quite well, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s such an “insensitive” question to ask someone, especially if they are as close with their grandmother as Ariana is.
It didn’t take long for fans to start reacting with their absolute horror over the question. They started out wondering why she’d even ask it like that, followed by “she obviously didn’t listen to nonna’s top 100 hit ordinary things.” Grande featured her “Nonna” on a song from her Eternal Sunshine album, gaining her a position on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart in March of 2024. Though, the reactions certainly didn’t end there.
“This is such a risky question, why would she ask that?” said one X user, to which the original poster replied, “like srsly what was she gonna do if she said no.” Another chimed in with “Lmao though I don’t think it’s that deep, just a clumsy/insensitive move from the journalist.”
While some seem to think it’s a “genuine question” and others left comments like “Wow. That’s a question for after the second bottle of wine,” it really is a question that could have some implications given the answer. Luckily, Grande handled the question well and explained that her “Nonna” is still very much alive, and that she was the second person called after learning about her nominations. However, if the situation were different, the interview easily could have provoked some seriously painful emotions.
Grande has always been very close with her grandmother, even mentioning that her and her grandmother had gotten matching tattoos at one point in a separate interview at the Golden Globes. To touch on a subject that could have potentially been catastrophic on the reporter’s part. Luckily, everything went smooth, and Nonna is still very much alive and well at 99 years old.
