'Narrative' About Ariana Grande Destroying Boyfriend Ethan Slater's Failed Marriage Is 'Wrong,' Claims Their 'Wicked' Costar Bowen Yang

Comedian Bowen Yang is signing Wicked costar Ariana Grande's praises.

On the recent episode of his and Matt Rogers' "Las Culturistas" podcast, the Saturday Night Live star pointed out how the singer's newest album, Eternal Sunshine, let people know their assumptions about her failed union to Dalton Gomez — and accusations that she was a homewrecker to boyfriend Ethan Slater's marriage — aren't accurate.

Yang said the r.e.m. beauty founder was "very, very, very purposeful about the way people would be portrayed in [the music] and the way she would portray herself."

"It's not a totally, like, 'My hands were clean.' She could have absolutely put out an album that was like, 'I'm going to preserve and protect things about my own image or rest the narrative from someone or the media or people in these situations,' [but she didn't]," he pointed out.

When divorce rumors first made headlines last year, people on social media believed she left Gomez, 28, for Slater — who's also in Wicked — despite the 31-year-old being married. However, songs like the title track hinted it was the real estate guru who strayed.

"I'll be the first to say, 'I'm sorry'/ Now you got me feelin' sorry/ I showed you all my demons, all my lies/ Yet you played me like Atari/ Now it's like I'm lookin' in the mirror/ Hope you feel alright when you're in her," Grande, 30, sings.

The actor, 33, also called out the tune "we can't be friends," in which the Grammy nominee alludes to Gomez being the one who lost interest first.

"You cling to your papers and pens/ Wait until you like me again/ Wait for your love/ Love, I'll wait for your love," the lyrics read.

"The thing with 'we can't be friends' is [that] the narrative is wrong. The narrative is wrong, and she's not even outwardly saying that, but the narrative has been incorrect," Yang elaborated. "People have even retracted things in these stories with no f------ apology to the people who are involved, and I can tell you for a fact that what people out there seem to be clinging on to as correct is incorrect."

"This is the only thing that I'm going to acknowledge about the situation, which is that like there is such an un-queer, puritanical Christian way we are approaching marriage in the discourse. It's very tradwife," he explained. "Everyone's being very like, 'the sanctity of marriage,' and, of course, it is so much more complicated than that."

Grande's divorce from Gomez was finalized in October 2023, while it's been reported that Slater's split from Lilly Jay has yet to be settled.