Cynthia Erivo speaks out on protecting Ariana Grande at Singapore ‘Wicked: For Good’ premiere
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo attend the “Wicked: For Good” Asia-Pacific Premiere at Universal Studio Singapore on November 13, 2025 in Singapore. (Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images)
Cynthia Erivo has made her first public comments regarding the Nov. 13 incident in which Ariana Grande was accosted by an online prankster during the Wicked:For Good premiere in Singapore.
Erivo told Savannah Guthrie on NBC’s Today show Thursday why she stepped between the man, Johnson Wen, and her co-star Grande, and physically pulled him off her before security took him away.
“I was really thinking, I just wanted to make sure my friend was safe,” Erivo told Guthrie. “I’m sure he didn’t mean us harm, but I just, you never know with those things and I wanted to make sure that she was okay. That was my first instinct.”
Erivo went on to add of her relationship with Grande, “This is a long-lasting friendship for us. We’re kind of like sisters at this moment. And I think we’ve both learned from each other and given each other some really, really beautiful gifts. We’ve really looked after each other through this.”
As previously reported, Wen was sentenced to nine days in jail by a Singapore court after pleading guilty to public nuisance charges.
Task and House of the Dragon are among the shows returning for another season on HBO.
The network announced Thursday that Task, the Mark Ruffalo-starring crime drama series, will be back for season 2, while the Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon will return for season 4.
The third season of House of the Dragon will air in summer 2026, with the fourth season airing in 2028.
Another Game of Thrones spinoff series, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, was renewed for a second season before the first season has even aired. Season 1 debuts Jan. 18.
HBO also renewed the comedies I Love LA and The Chair Company for second seasons.
Tyrese Gibson attends the MACRO Pre-Oscars Party at Laya Restaurant on February 27, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Phillip Faraone/Getty Images
Tyrese Gibson turned himself in Friday after being charged with animal cruelty, after his dogs allegedly killed a neighbor’s dog in his Atlanta neighborhood.
The actor and R&B singer was booked in Fulton County and released on $20,000 bond, according to Fulton County Sheriff’s Office jail records.
Good Morning America has reached out to Gibson for comment.
Gibson, who is also known for his role in the Fast and Furious films, was accused of animal cruelty after police say his four Cane Corso dogs ran out of his mansion and killed a dog, a Cavalier King Charles spaniel, at a neighbor’s home on Sept. 18.
According to a police report, officers visited Gibson’s home on Sept. 22 to impound the four dogs after Gibson told them through his assistant that he would turn them over. However, the report states that when officers arrived at the home, Gibson was not there, and his assistant told police they could not take the dogs, as Gibson needed “a few more days” to find “another place” for them to go.
Authorities subsequently issued an arrest warrant for Gibson.
Rob Pitts, the chairman of the Board of Commissioners of Fulton County, Georgia, told ABC News that while Gibson turned himself in this week, he is “still not co-operating,” and officials still want the dogs turned in too.
“We can’t force him to tell us where the dogs are but the judge will be able to compel him to turn the dogs over to us,” Pitts continued. “From our point of view, the dogs will be deemed as dangerous based on everything that has happened in the past.”
In a statement to ABC News on Friday, Gibson’s legal counsel said, “Earlier this morning, Mr. Tyrese Gibson voluntarily turned himself in to the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office to answer the misdemeanor warrant. Earlier this week (Tuesday), Mr. Gibson’s legal team worked with prosecutors and successfully secured a consent bond for his immediate release. He has now been processed and released.”
The statement continued, “Despite what others might say, throughout this entire process Mr. Gibson has cooperated fully with legal authorities and will continue to do so until this matter is resolved. Mr. Gibson once again wants to extend his deepest condolences to the family who lost their dog and respectfully asks for privacy and understanding as this matter is handled through the appropriate legal channels.”
The dog that Gibson’s Cane Corsos are accused of killing belonged to Harrison Parker, Gibson’s neighbor.
“The pack of those four dogs were there minutes before I found Henry’s body,” Parker told Good Morning America in an interview earlier this week. “And there was absolutely no cars, no humans, just the dogs. And he was dead. And the fact he died like that alone in the darkness at night and I wasn’t there… it’s just horrible.”
Parker added, “I really hope that justice is fully served.”
Gibson, who was out of the state the night that the incident happened, said in a statement shared this week on Instagram that he is “devastated and heartbroken” for Parker’s family.
“To the family who lost their beloved pet: please know that I am praying for you, grieving with you, and will continue to face this tragedy with honesty, responsibility, and compassion,” he said.
Gibson’s legal counsel said in a statement shared with the actor’s post that Gibson had “made the incredibly difficult decision to rehome his two adult dogs and their three puppies in safe and loving homes” after learning what had happened.
In a separate statement at the time, Gibson’s legal counsel said the singer initially got the dogs after he had been “dealing with stalkers randomly showing up at his home” and added that the dogs were “never trained to be vicious.”
Police said Gibson’s neighbors have complained that the dogs were often seen running loose.
In Gibson’s arrest warrant, police said that they had spent more than a week trying to convince the actor to surrender his dogs.
“It’s been a problem and it’s not going to go away,” Pitts told ABC News in an interview on Thursday.
Pitts added that rehoming the dogs is “not good enough.”
“We have to have possession of them,” he said. “Him rehoming them doesn’t mean a hill of beans to us.”
Pitts also said there is a responsibility that comes with pet ownership.
“Pet ownership is a good thing, but there’s a responsibility that comes along with owning a pet,” he said. “And based upon the footage that I’ve seen, based upon the complaints that I have seen that the neighbors have launched against him over a period of time, this did not just happen.”
He added, “The fear is, in this case, it was a small pet dog, another dog, but it could have been a child out playing. It could have been an adult. It could have been a human being.”
‘One Battle After Another’ main poster (Alon Amir)
Paul Thomas Anderson‘s One Battle After Another topped the box office this weekend, taking in $22.4 million.
The comedy action thriller, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is loosely based on Thomas Pynchon‘s 1990 novel Vineland, about a former revolutionary living off the grid who is forced out of hiding when his enemy resurfaces.
Coming at number two this week is the children’s film Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie with $13.7 million. The week’s only other new release to crack the top 10 is the horror sequel The Strangers: Chapter 2, coming in at number five with $5.9 million.
1. One Battle After Another — $22.4 million 2. Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie — $13.7 million 3. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie – Infinity Castle — $7.1 million 4. The Conjuring: Last Rites — $6.86 million 5. The Strangers: Chapter 2 — $5.9 million 6. Him — $3.65 million 7. The Long Walk — $3.4 million 8. Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale — $3.3 million 9. Spider-Man/Spider-Man 2/Spider-Man 3 — $2.25 million 10. A Big Bold Beautiful Journey — $1.25 million
