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Ethan Slater, Ariana Grande’s boyfriend, had a slippery moment at the London premiere of Wicked.
The highly anticipated event, held at The Royal Festival Hall, saw Slater and the rest of the Wicked cast walking the green carpet amidst a classic London drizzle.
The 32-year-old actor, best known for originating the title role in SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical,was greeted by cheering fans as he made his way inside the venue.
But the rain-soaked floor turned hazardous, causing Slater to lose his footing and briefly defy gravity.
Caught on video by fans, Slater slipped and began to fall backward, wheeling his arms in a way that can only be described as cartoonish.
He managed to catch himself before hitting the ground, narrowly avoiding what could have been an embarrassing or even injurious incident.
The crowd gasped, but Slater quickly put them at ease, flashing a wide grin and giving a thumbs-up to assure everyone he was unharmed.
The heart-stopping moment didn’t go unnoticed on social media, where fans uploaded footage of the incident to platforms like TikTok.
Many users couldn’t help but tie the near-mishap back to Slater’s iconic Broadway role, quipping about how SpongeBob may have handled the situation.
k_younggg wrote: ‘Can someone edit this with Spongebob shoe noises.’
alexbeenlikethis posted: ‘This is so Spongebob coded.’
Others were impressed by how gracefully Slater caught himself, with influencer Trisha Paytas writing: ‘Wait he’s so graceful like how’
taylorswiftjetfuel wrote: ‘Omg he caught himself so effortlessly.’
Wicked the movie musical, starring Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey alongside Slater, has been receiving rave reviews.
Metro’s own film critic Tori Brazier wrote: ‘Wicked the movie musical has flown past my high expectations with the undeniable quality of its scope, vision and imagination – this is exactly how you adapt a stage show for the big screen.
‘That it builds this on as remarkable a foundation as it does thanks to the towering talent of its cast and creatives means it doesn’t put a foot wrong.’
Erivo and Grande looked stunning at the premiere in Glinda and Elphaba inspired looks – and managed to avoid any stumbles or falls.
Set before the 1939 Judy Garland film we all know and love, Wicked picks up as Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo) meet’s Ariana’s Galinda Upland at Shiz University.
Wicked tells the story of Elphaba and Galinda’s unlikely friendship and explains how Elphaba came to be known as the Wicked Witch – complete with some of the best and most memorable songs in musical theater history.
The film’s production gained massive media attention in 2023 when Ariana and Ethan met each other on the London set and began to date.
It was later confirmed that both Wicked stars had left their previous partners, with the pair’s divorces both finalised earlier this year ahead of the film’s big unveiling.
As a result, there has been tons of interest in Ethan, who was previously only really known among Broadway enthusiasts – meaning it really was the slip seen around the world.
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