Cynthia Erivo has made her first public comments regarding the Nov. 13 incident in which Ariana Grande was accosted by an online prankster during the Wicked:For Good premiere in Singapore.

Erivo told Savannah Guthrie on NBC’s Today show Thursday why she stepped between the man, Johnson Wen , and her co-star Grande, and physically pulled him off her before security took him away.

“I was really thinking, I just wanted to make sure my friend was safe,” Erivo told Guthrie. “I’m sure he didn’t mean us harm, but I just, you never know with those things and I wanted to make sure that she was okay. That was my first instinct.”

Erivo went on to add of her relationship with Grande, “This is a long-lasting friendship for us. We’re kind of like sisters at this moment. And I t

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