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Wicked star Ethan Slater nearly suffered a serious accident at the London premiere of the film — but he managed to catch himself just in time.
It was raining in London on Monday, November 18, when Slater and the rest of the Wicked cast — including girlfriend Ariana Grande — walked the green carpet at The Royal Festival Hall. As the 32-year-old actor attempted to make his way inside the building, led by a team of security and handlers, he slipped on the wet floor and immediately began to fall backwards before catching himself just before his body hit the ground.
The whole mishap was caught on camera by fans, who were eagerly cheering for Slater before his fall — and immediately gasped once he slipped. All was well though, as the theatre star, who originated the role of SpongeBob on Broadway, flashed the crowd a grin and gave a thumbs-up to assure everyone he was okay.
After one fan uploaded the harrowing moment to TikTok, social media users immediately started in on the jokes — many of them referring to Slater's SpongeBob roots.
"can someone edit this with spongebob shoe noises," one person asked.
"idk how to explain it but that's so spongebob of him," another commented.
People even thought that the audience was in on the whole SpongeBob vibe. "OH MY GOD the cheering gave Krusty Krab Talent Show energy 😂😂," a third person quipped.
Others, however, were simply impressed at how well Slater — a trained singer, dancer and actor — managed to save himself and not actually fall on the ground.
"with how smooth of a save that was he literally gained aura," someone gushed.
"that was a bada** fall tho he saved it," another fan wrote.
"Wow that was insanely impressive," a third person praised.
Even more simply had puns already in the arsenal.
"Ethan Skater 🛹," someone commented.
"Everyone deserves as chance to ✨SLIDE✨," another Wicked fan wrote, riffing on Elphaba's big number, "The Wizard and i."
Slater stars as Boq in Wicked, in theaters on Friday, November 22.
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