In the lead-up to Wicked’s release, there were countless viral moments from interviews with its lead stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.
However, none of them caught people’s attention quite like when the pair sat down for an interview that was shared on Out magazine’s Instagram page.
Cynthia and Ariana had already been making headlines thanks to their emotional moments while talking about Wicked, but things reached new heights when reporter Tracy E. Gilchrist claimed she’d seen people “taking the lyrics to Defying Gravity and really holding space with that”.
Despite the apparent word salad, Cynthia was moved all the same, claiming: “That’s really powerful, that’s what I wanted.”
“I didn’t know that was happening,” she tearfully added, while her co-star confusingly held onto one of her fingers.
“I don’t know how widespread [it is], but, you know, I am in queer media,” Tracy then added, putting a cherry on top of the now-infamous exchange.
Actor David Granados recently recreated Cynthia and Ariana’s finger-holding moment with Tracy herself in a TikTok that has already been seen more than 750,000 times in just two days.
The clip even caught the attention of Ariana herself, who popped up in the comments writing: “Oh my goodness! Our queen!!!! Holding space with you always.”
@hereisdavid Follow for the explanation video ???? #holdingspace#defyinggravity#wicked @TracyEGilchrist
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After her interview with the Wicked stars went viral, Tracy gave an interview in which she spoke more about what was really going on in the room.
Revealing that the interview took place the day after the US election, she claimed: “Most of it actually came from a conversation with a friend. I was using that to tee up the question, and I was a little thrown off by [Cynthia’s] response because it was so sincere and real.
“I was a little flustered. I could have said, ‘I have all these friends, and this is our conversation’. But instead I said, ‘I’m in queer media’. It’s a catchphrase now!”
Wicked is in cinemas now.
