It seems Elvira is interested in spooking more than trick-or-treaters this Halloween. The Mistress of the Dark, a.k.a. Cassandra Peterson, brewed up a little controversy this week when she posted a video from a recent Q&A to Instagram in which she claims that Ariana Grande refused to take a photo with her at an Elvira show years ago.
Speaking to fans at Knott’s Scary Farm, Peterson recounted a less-than-flattering encounter with the pop star. The actress recalled that Grande had once attended her show and “brought 20 guests.” After accommodating Grande’s request for “21 tickets,” Peterson says the singer came backstage and asked if Elvira would take photos with all of her friends and relatives. “I take a picture with every single one of them, I sign autographs for every single one of them,” the 73-year-old remembered. “Then I say to her, ‘Can we take a photo together?’ And she goes, ‘No, I don’t really do that.’”
“She left before my show started!” Peterson added. “All her relatives stayed, and she took off.”
Grande, who has been on her most media-trained behavior in the midst of the whirlwind Wicked press tour, attempted to correct the record shortly after the video was posted. As far as Grande can remember, she never snubbed Peterson. Quite the opposite, actually. Grande loves Elvira, writing, “you’ll always be our queen of halloween [sic]!”
“I’m so disheartened to see this. i actually don’t even remember getting the chance to meet you because i had an anxiety attack and to my memory, left before the rest of my family,” Grande commented on Peterson’s post. “this was around 7 years ago and at the time i was really not great with being in public crowds or loud places.”
“But if i’m misremembering this moment, i sincerely apologize for offending you so,” she continued. “Thank you for being so nice to my mom, she told me how lovely you were (she might have different feelings about that now but i’ll talk to her … clearly, we all have our days!) sending love always. ♡”
One month out from the premiere of Jon M. Chu’s Wicked adaptation, Grande’s team seems to be keeping her far away from anything vaguely resembling a controversy. Bring on more thoughtfully crafted mea culpas, and long live the Mistress of the Dark.