Cynthia Erivo speaks out on shielding Ariana Grande after fan charged at her at Wicked: For Good ...

She says her &34;first instinct&34; after a man rushed at and grabbed Grande on the red carpet was to &34;make sure my friend was safe.&34; Cynthia Erivo speaks out on shielding Ariana Grande after fan charged at her at Wicked: For Good premiere She says her &34;first instinct&34; after a man rushed at and grabbed Grande on the red carpet was to &34;make sure my friend was safe.&34; By Emlyn Travis :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/EmlynTravisauthorphotocba6765b433b4f93b9398d18053153b1.jpg) Emlyn Travis is a news writer at . She has been working at EW since 2022.

She says her "first instinct" after a man rushed at and grabbed Grande on the red carpet was to "make sure my friend was safe."

Cynthia Erivo speaks out on shielding Ariana Grande after fan charged at her at Wicked: For Good premiere

She says her "first instinct" after a man rushed at and grabbed Grande on the red carpet was to "make sure my friend was safe."

By Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2022. Her work has previously appeared on MTV News, Teen Vogue, and *NME*.

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November 20, 2025 11:44 a.m. ET

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Cynthia Erivo opens up about a fan charging at Ariana Grande at a 'Wicked: For Good' premiere on 'Today'. Credit:

Cynthia Erivo is detailing what went through her mind when a man rushed her costar Ariana Grande at the Singapore premiere of *Wicked: For Good* earlier this month. **

"I wasn't really thinking," Erivo said while sitting down with Savannah Guthrie on Thursday's episode of *Today*. "I just wanted to make sure my friend was safe."**

Erivo, Grande, Michelle Yeoh, and Jeff Goldblum were walking the yellow carpet at the Nov. 13 event when a man, later identified as Johnson Wen, jumped over the barricade between the stars and fans, pushed past photographers, and grabbed a visibly stunned Grande. Within seconds of the encounter, Erivo leaped into action to shield her with help from security.

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo at the "Wicked: For Good" Asia-Pacific premiere on Nov. 13, 2025, in Singapore.

Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty

While speaking out on *Today*, Erivo clarified, "I'm sure he didn't mean us harm, but you never know with those things, and I wanted to make sure that she was okay. That was my first instinct."**

Wen, an Australian social media personality who is known for stage-crashing events, was arrested and charged in court for being a public nuisance after the incident, the BBC reported. He was later found guilty and sentenced to nine days in prison.

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The fan's behavior sparked outrage after attendees began posting videos of the moment Wen rushed at Grande online.

In one video, TikTok user Raphael.sli shared footage of Wen, also known as 'Pyjama Man,' crashing the carpet a second time and claimed that he was attempting to run after Grande again. This time, however, he was immediately caught by security upon jumping over the barricade. **

Wen later took credit for the incident on social media. "Dear Ariana Grande, thank you for letting me jump on the yellow carpet with you ❤️," he captioned a Nov. 13 Instagram post.

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While Grande has not publicly commented on the situation, her fan base has condemned Wen's actions on social media and accused him of re-traumatizing the singer, whose 2017 concert in Manchester, England, was disrupted by a terrorist attack that killed 22 attendees. The Grammy winner has previously opened up about having anxiety and PTSD at large public events in the wake of the bombing.

Erivo isn't the only *Wicked* cast member standing up for Grande. Marissa Bode, who plays Nessarose Thropp in the film series, addressed the incident in a Nov. 14 TikTok, in which she pushed back against the idea that Wen is a "fan."

"'But they're a fan!' Okay. Then they're a fan and a loser," Bode said. "This is what I mean when I say social media brings out the worst in people. Oh, did you get your views? Did you get your likes? Guess what you also did? You made somebody feel incredibly unsafe, but just — no remorse. That goes over your head. You're a bad person."

She added that "women, or really anybody, should be expected to move with grace or respond with kindness when they've been violated in that way."

Erivo also referenced the incident during a Q&A with Grande and their costars at a special Screen Actors Guild screening of the movie last Saturday. **

"We have come through some shit. We have come through some stuff in our lives, in our daily workings," she said at the event, which * *attended*.* "I mean, f---, even this last week. Let's be honest, for f---'s sakes, we've had to really deal with some stuff, and this movie has allowed us to really grow as people, as friends, as sisters, as artists, as actresses."

Grande could be seen tearing up as Erivo continued, "That is the thing that is special about this piece. And I'll miss being in this group of people this constantly. Because you don't get a group of people this close often on a set. You don't earn family like this often, and we have. F---ing lucky thing to be a part of."

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Published: November 23, 2025 at 11:38AM on Source: MARIO MAG

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