Cassandra Peterson, who’s best known for her character Elvira, recounted meeting the singer — and the not so nice way Grande allegedly dismissed her after asking to take a photo together.
update at 2:15pm PT on 10/21/25
Ariana Grande took to Elvira’s Instagram page to respond to the story, saying she’s “so disheartened to see this.”
“i actually don’t even remember getting the chance to meet you because i had an anxiety attack and to my memory, left before the rest of my family (this was around 7 years ago and at the time i was really not great with being in public crowds or loud places) … but if i’m misremembering this moment, i sincerely apologize for offending you so,” she continued.
“thank you for being so nice to my mom, 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!),” she continued, before concluding, “sending love always. ♡ you’ll always be our queen of halloween!”
original story below
Glinda the not so good witch?
Cassandra Peterson, who’s best known for her spooky alter ego Elvira, opened up about her “worst celebrity encounter” while speaking to a crowd in a video that just went viral on social media — and it was none other than Wicked star, Ariana Grade.
“I’ll tell you briefly,” Elvira said after another presenter referenced Grande’s infamous donut encounter in 2015. “She came and she brought 20 guests, so she wanted 20, 21 tickets. We’re like, ‘OK,’ and we give her the tickets. She comes backstage and she asks if I could take pictures with all of her friends and relatives [that] she brought.”
She continued, “I take a picture with every single one of them. I sign autographs for every single one of them. Then I say to her, ‘Can we take a photo together?’ She goes, ‘Nah, I don’t really do that.'”
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To make things worse, Elvira claims the “thank u next” singer allegedly didn’t even bother to stay for her performance at Knott’s Scary Farm and ditched the show while her family and friends stayed.
People in the audience booed Grande, as another presenter on the panel quipped, “She’s playing the wrong witch.”
Elvira’s fans flooded the comments section of the TikTok video and slammed Grande or her alleged bad behavior, with one commenting, “Is anyone honestly surprised that Ariana’s like that? After decades of hearing similar stories from folks?”
Another added, “ur actually joking… her expecting that much then not even taking a single photo? that’s insane.”
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Not all fans believed the Mistress of the Darkness star, with some taking to the comments to defend Grande, “the way ariana never denies a picture… this seems fishy like what 😭,” with another adding, “I’m not buying it.”
Others, meanwhile, gave reasons for why the interaction may have played out that way, writing, “i feel like ari took her friends and family as a gift or something and she didn’t want to take pictures at the time.”
With one wondering if “Ariana didn’t want people to know she was there for some reason,” and asking, “Maybe it was a misunderstanding?”
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Elvira took to Instagram to shared the video herself, along with screenshots of an article by Parade which detailed the Halloween queen’s comments and the alleged incident.
“Story time! Swipe ➡️ I’m back at @knottsscaryfarm tonight for the ‘Yours Cruelly, Elvira XXperience’ Q & A + autograph signing! See ya there! 😉,” She wrote, teasing her Halloween-time event.
Grande has yet to publicly address the matter, but TooFab has reached out to he reps for comment.
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