“I sincerely apologize for offending you”: Ariana Grande addresses drag favourite Elvira incident

Ariana Grande has issued an apology to actress Cassandra Peterson, known for portraying horror icon Elvira, after being accused of ignoring her during a meet-and-greet.

Cassandra Peterson, famed for her Mistress of the Dark persona, mentioned that Ariana had asked for tickets for herself and her family to attend one of her performances. She recounted at a panel that she posed for photos and signed autographs for “all her friends and relatives,” but Ariana did not reciprocate by posing for a picture and left before the show began.

In response to these comments on Instagram, according to ‘BBC’, Ariana stated she was “disheartened” and explained she left the event early due to an “anxiety attack”.

Replying to Cassandra’s post, Ariana expressed that she didn’t “even remember” having the opportunity to meet her. Ariana explained the event likely happened about seven years ago, after the Manchester concert incident, which significantly affected her comfort in public spaces.

She added, “If I'm misremembering this moment, I sincerely apologize for offending you so.” She also thanked Cassandra for being kind to her mother, saying, “Thank you for being so nice to my mum, she told me how lovely you were (she might have different feelings about that now but I'll talk to her... clearly, we all have our days!).”

Ariana concluded with “sending love always,” expressing that Cassandra will “always be our queen of Halloween.”

The video featuring Cassandra Peterson, also a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race, discussing the incident, went viral. It includes laughter when someone on stage quipped that Ariana is “playing the wrong witch” in relation to her role as Good Witch Glinda in the forthcoming film adaptation of Wicked.

Recent promotional efforts led to headlines about fan edits of the movie’s poster created with AI. An edit transformed images of Ariana and co-star Cynthia Erivo into an animation depicting the two in a fight. Altered versions that removed Cynthia’s eyes have been subjected to criticism by the actors.

Cynthia remarked “None of this is funny,” emphasising that it “degrades me” and “degrades us.” Ariana concurred, acknowledging that fan edits can “go too far,” and stressed her “so much respect” for Cynthia, noting the issue is “very complicated.”