Ariana Grande apologises after drag favourite Elvira says meeting her was ‘worst’ celeb encounter

Elvira in 2015 (L) and Ariana Grande in 2024 (R).

Ariana Grande has issued an apology to Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, after the actress called the “7 Rings” singer the shadiest celebrity she’d met.

During a Q&A at Halloween fright night event Knott’s Scary Farm, Elvira, whose real name is Cassandra Peterson, recounted Grande buying 21 tickets to her show for herself and her loved ones.

Grande took everyone backstage before the show in California, and Elvira asked if they could have a photo with the Wicked star.

“And she goes: ‘No, I don’t really do that’,” Elvira claimed, adding that Grande then left before the show had even begun.

After the Elvira shared a clip of the Q&A on her Instagram page, Grande responded with an apology.

“I’m so disheartened to see this,” the singer said. “I actually don’t even remember getting the chance to meet you because I had an anxiety attack.

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To my memory, [I] left before the rest of my family; this was around seven years ago and, at the time, I was really not great with being in public crowds or loud places,” she added, seemingly referring to how she was affected by the terrorist attack at her concert in Manchester in May 2017.

“If I’m misremembering this moment, I sincerely apologise for offending you. Thank you for being so nice to my mom, she told me how lovely you were. You’ll always be our queen of Halloween!”

Ariana Grande responds to Elvira on Instagram
Ariana Grande has apologised to Elvira. (Instagram)

Social media users have leapt in to Elvira’s comment section, with some defending her and others calling her out for revealing the encounter.

“This is such a weird behaviour coming from you. Yikes. Is this a trend? Bringing up eight-year-old issues for clicks and likes,” wrote one Grande fan.

Another said: “I love both of you but I feel like basing your content on tearing down another woman in the industry just because she’s got a movie coming out and you had a bad experience years ago.”

However, drag queen Brigitte Bandit wrotge: “Call it out, diva.”

Elvira, who began her career in the 70s with small roles on film and television, but bagged her breakout role in horror comedy series Elvira’s Movie Macabre in 1981, is yet to respond to the apology. In recent years, she has appeared as a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race and All Stars.

Elvira came out as queer in 2022, revealing that she had been in a relationship with another woman for two decades.

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