Ariana Grande impersonated Katy Perry on her infamous space flight on Saturday Night Live. Watch it below.
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Grande hosted the show for the third time on Saturday (December 20), rounding off the year for SNL alongside Cher, who appeared as musical guest for the first time in almost 40 years.
During her appearance, Grande played Perry in a sketch inspired by David Bowie and Bing Crosby’s iconic ‘The Little Drummer Boy’, where the SNL cast impersonated various unlikely musical pairings.
Appearing alongside Bob Dylan, Grande gave an impression of Perry, wearing a space suit in a nod to her controversial flight earlier this year. The duo sang a Christmas-themed version of ‘Firework’, with Dylan offering occasional ad-libs.
Elsewhere, James Austin Johnson’s Cameron Winter was paired with Benson Boone, who proceeded to flip into a Christmas tree as he sang. Other duos in the sketch included Bruce Springsteen with Bad Bunny, Kate Bush and Yoko Ono, Stevie Wonder and Boone once again, as well as Björk and Post Malone and Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion, who was portrayed by Grande.
Watch it below.
Back in April, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s space tourism company Blue Origin briefly sent the ‘E.T.’ singer to space alongside an all-female crew that included TV host Gayle King, film producer Kerianne Flynn, scientist Amanda Nguyen, entrepreneur Aisha Bowe and author Lauren Sánchez, who is also Bezos’ fiancée.
The trip was roundly criticised, with actress Olivia Munn branding Perry “gluttonous”, Emily Ratajkowski saying she was “disgusted” by the flight and Lily Allen calling the mission “out of touch”, saying there was “no fucking reason” for it.
Wendy’s also weighed in on social media, jokingly asking if they could “send Katy Perry back to space”, and writing: “When we said women in stem this isn’t what we meant.” They later clarified their stance on the singer, giving an official statement to People that seemed to stop short of a full apology. “We always bring a little spice to our socials,” they said at the time.
In response, her manager seemed to celebrate the closure of multiple Wendy’s back in November.
Elsewhere, scrutiny from the current Wicked: For Good press tour has pushed Grande to give fans a “friendly reminder” not to comment on her body in a new social media post. It follows she and Erivo recently sharing emotional farewells to their respective Wicked characters on Instagram.
Wicked: For Good has scored a three-star review from NME, with Nick Levine writing: “The one truly showstopping moment is Elphaba and Glinda’s climactic rendition of ‘For Good’, a big, blustery show tune that sums up their entire relationship. Wicked: For Good doesn’t defy gravity like its predecessor but fans will want to hold space for a sequel with a very poignant payoff.”
Grande recently shed light on how her Wicked role helped facilitate “healing” in her relationship to touring. It comes ahead of her tour next summer, which will mark her first live run in six years.
The musician’s last musical output was her March 2024 album ‘Eternal Sunshine’, an expanded deluxe version of which she shared earlier this year, complete with six new tracks.
