Wicked stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo respond to dating rumors and cringey ‘holding space’ meme: Ariana said ‘I remembered asking, am I really … See more

It left Wicked fans alternately grimacing and bursting out in laughter.

And now Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo have shared their reactions to the bizarre ‘holding space’ meme that they became a part of during Wicked’s press junket.

The 31-year-old pop superstar and the 37-year-old stage and screen star spoke with Variety on Friday about the cringeworthy interview with journalist Tracy E. Gilchrist for Out Magazine.

While discussing Wicked: Part One’s closing number, Defying Gravity, Gilchrist claimed fans were ‘taking the lyrics’ and ‘really holding space with that.’

In the original clip, put a hand over her chest while looking shocked and replied: ‘I didn’t know that was happening. That’s really powerful. That’s what I wanted.’

But in her newest sit-down with Ariana and director Jon M. Chu, Cynthia and her costar Ariana admitted they had ‘no idea’ what Gilchrist was talking about when they mustered a response.

‘I was surprised, because I had no idea, because I hadn’t been looking,’ Cynthia admitted of the alleged social media posts that inspired Gilchrist.

‘She was like, “Well, I guess,”‘ Ariana added of the journalists response when asked about the alleged posts.

‘I had no idea that this thing was going on,’ Cynthia reiterated in her Variety interview.

‘So I didn’t know what any part of it meant,’ Ariana said more bluntly, which got a laugh out of Jon.’I didn’t understand the first sentence. And then I definitely didn’t understand what was happening, how you responded.’

She continued: ‘I was like, “Oh, what did she say, and what did you hear?” And I just wanted to be there [for Cynthia], because I knew something big was happening, and I didn’t know how to be there.’

Then the new interview edited in a clip of Ariana bizarrely grasping Cynthia’s index finger in an apparent show of support from the original meme.

‘But then, after a while, I didn’t know how to be there,’ Cynthia responded as their director couldn’t contain his chuckles.

‘She said something that meant something to her, then it meant something totally different to you, then she tried to get somewhere else,’ Ariana tried to explain. ‘And the craziest thing was, I remember in the moment asking myself, ‘Am I OK? Did I not hear something?

‘Because [Cynthia] looks like she’s about to cry again and I’m about to grab [her finger] because I think [she] might need something, and I don’t know what the tapping [her finger] is about —’

‘Tension,’ Cynthia suggested.

Then Cynthia said she was thrown off by Gilchrist’s announcement that she worked in ‘queer media.’

‘I honestly didn’t know what that meant. And, am I also in queer media? Maybe?’ she added in puzzlement.

But Ariana sound more positive and said she was so ‘relieved’ that other people had the same ‘experience’ with the interview that she did.

‘Because I felt like, “Oh, I’m not broken,”‘ she added.

Then Cynthia changed things up and mentioned how much she enjoyed the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus’ version of the interview, which the singers had set to music.

Ariana replied that she hadn’t seen it, but then poked fun at Gilchrist by correcting herself.

‘Yeah, well, I’ve seen it,’ she said, echoing Gilchrist’s claim that she had ‘seen’ the mysterious, hard-to-articulate social media posts that allegedly inspired her original line of questioning.

Wicked’s director didn’t have much to add, as he admitted that he was in ‘the other room’ when Ariana and Cynthia were doing their original interview, though he joked that he felt the presence of a meme taking life.