Are Ariana Grande and boyfriend Ethan Slater over for good?
The actor was asked how it felt “working with [his] girlfriend every day” during a “Today” show interview Friday — and dodged the question.
Slater, 33, redirected co-host Craig Melvin’s line of questioning by calling “the entire cast [of ‘Wicked: For Good’] … incredible” instead.
Ethan Slater fueled Ariana Grande breakup rumors in a cryptic interview moment. Presley Ann Photo/Shutterstock for SAG
“Today” show’s Craig Melvin asked the actor about “working with [his] girlfriend every day” on “Wicked: For Good.” NBC
Although the Broadway star did acknowledge that Grande, 32, is a “brilliant” actress, he gushed over “remarkable” Cynthia Erivo as well.
Watching Grande and Erivo, 38, respectively play Glinda and Elphaba “from such a high level up close” was “pretty special” for Slater, he gushed.
“We filmed it years ago,” the Tony nominee explained to viewers. “I didn’t forget how amazing their performances were, but [I loved] getting to watch it with an audience.”
The Broadway star dodged the question. NBC
“The entire cast is incredible,” Slater said. Penske Media via Getty Images
Slater noted that he has “sat in on the screenings at all the premieres” because it’s “fun” to “feel the energy of the audience.”
He concluded, “I’m so proud of everyone I got to work with. We’re, like, a family.”
Slater’s cryptic answers come amid swirling breakup rumors as he and Grande keep their distance on red carpets.
Reps for Slater and Grande did not immediately respond to Page Six’s requests for comment.
He went on to call Grande “brilliant” — but complimented Cynthia Erivo as well. NBC
“I’m so proud of everyone I got to work with,” he continued. “We’re, like, a family.” Getty Images
Slater, notably, included a photo of the Grammy winner in an Instagram carousel earlier this month, but the pair did not show PDA in the snap.
They were first linked in July 2023, the same month Slater filed for divorce from wife Lilly Jay, with whom he shares a now-3-year-old son.
Jay subsequently blasted Grande, insisting to Page Six that the former Nickelodeon star was “not a girl’s girl.”
Friday’s sitdown, notably, took place amid rumors the duo have called it quits. NBC
They have recently kept their distance on red carpets. Rob Latour/Shutterstock
Grande, for her part, ended her marriage to real estate broker Dalton Gomez later that same year.
In a November 2024 “Entertainment Tonight” interview, the “Side to Side” singer praised her new partner as “adorable” and “amazing.”
Slater, for his part, referred to their relationship as “a beautiful thing” in a chat with GQ the previous month.
The Tony nominee was first linked to Grande in 2023. Media-Mode / SplashNews.com
Grande and Slater subsequently divorced their respective partners, Dalton Gomez and Lilly Jay. The Academy via Getty Images
As for Jay, she gave rare insight into her and Slater’s co-parenting dynamic in a December 2024 essay published in the Cut.
“While our partnership has changed, our parenthood has not,” she wrote at the time. “Both of us fiercely love our son 100 percent of the time, regardless of how our parenting time is divided.”
The therapist labeled days with the little one “sunny,” admitting, “Days when I can’t escape the promotion of a movie associated with the saddest days of my life are darker.”
