Sydney Sweeney has experienced a considerable amount of publicity as of late, and not all of the buzz has been so positive. This past summer, the 28-year-old actress received backlash for her “good jeans” campaign with American Eagle And, more recently, Sweeney has been catching flak for the box office reception of Christy, her latest film. Now, there are apparently some social media users who are of the opinion that Sweeney was just shaded by Ariana Grande during a conversation with Bowen Yang.
As of late, Ariana Grande has been promoting her own 2025 movie schedule entry, Wicked: For Good and, as part of that, she recently took part in Vanity Fair’s Lie Detector Test segment. The interview saw Grande questioning (and also being grilled by) co-star Bowen Yang. Amid the chat, Grande asked Yang if he thought she was a good kisser, based on their Saturday Night Live sketch smooch. Yang then complimented Grande’s kissing skills, after which she asked how she compared to Sydney Sweeney, saying:
Was I better than this woman?
Yang (35) and Grande (32) kissed during the “Charades with Mom” sketch during SNL Season 50, while he smooched Sweeney during the “Bowen’s Straight” sketch from the previous season. Yang explained that his reasoning is due to the fact that his and Sweeney’s kiss was rushed due to her having to quickly move to another segment. The kiss comparison, however, doesn’t seem to be so much what a number of fans are focusing on here, though.
Based on social media reactions shared to X, a number of fans are focused on the fact that the “Eternal Sunshine” singer (who also did a Lorne Michaels only referred to Sydney Sweeney as “this woman.” Someone could theoretically argue that maybe that was a scripted moment, though a number of people are taking it as a slight. Check out some of the reactions:
- ‘This woman,’ Oh, smartiana, she’s not being clipped saying that lady’s name EVER. – @gagasluts
- Sydney Sweeney is getting all the hate this year 😭 – @KingDami5299
- ‘This woman,’ [lmao]. I love her. – @lustbry
- Not Ari calling Sydney Sweeney ‘this woman.’ – @byeprada
- ‘This woman.’ GAG HER. – @szgyal
Overall, this is all simply up to interpretation at this point, given the nature of Ariana Grande’s brief comment. Regardless of that, it doesn’t seem lost on a lot of people that this comment comes at a time at which Sydney Sweeney has been making headlines for a myriad of reasons. She has had some defenders, however, as the real Christy Martin also stood up for Sweeney after she was criticized by actress Ruby Rose. When sharing those critiques, Rose expressed dissatisfaction with a non-LGBTQ-identifying actress playing Martin.
It’s hard to predict whether Ariana Grande’s mention of Sydney Sweeney will continue to garner attention. Honestly, I’d be lying if I said I ever expected to see Sweeney and Grande’s names in the mix together, despite the both of them being two of the most recognizable stars working today. Time will tell if this ends up being a one-off situation or the first chapter in an ongoing saga.
See Bowen Yang’s kisses with the two actresses can see them on YouTube, or stream the full Saturday Night Live episodes using a Peacock subscription.