Posted 3 minutes ago"Why Did She Mock Her": This Candid Clip Of Ariana Grande And Leighton Meester On The Critics' Choice Awards Red Carpet Is Going Viral For A Seriously Awkward Reason"She doesn't have to say ily back but the mocking was a bit mean girl-ish."by Stephanie SoteriouBuzzFeed StaffFacebookPinterestLink People have been left seriously divided by Leighton Meester's reaction to Ariana Grande fangirling over her on the Critics' Choice Awards red carpet on Sunday night. Savion Washington / Getty Images If you didn't know, 39-year-old Leighton shot to fame playing Blair Waldorf in Gossip Girl back in 2007, and was at the ceremony with her husband, Adam Brody, who was nominated in the Best Actor in a Comedy Series category for his performance in Nobody Wants This. For what it's worth, the award ultimately went to Seth Rogen for The Studio. Monica Schipper / Getty Images Meanwhile, Ariana was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Glinda in Wicked: For Good. She lost out to Amy Madigan, who won for her performance in Weapons. Maya Dehlin Spach / Getty Images And in footage of the red carpet that was captured by E!, Ari and Leighton were caught having a brief exchange ahead of the main event. E! / Via x.com Ariana was seemingly on her way into the venue while Leighton and Adam made their way to pose for photos, and after the two women caught each other's eye and waved at one another, Ariana said: "Love you so much." E! / Via x.com Putting her hand to her chest as she walked off, she continued: "Wow, wow, wow." E! / Via x.com At this point, Leighton turned to an unidentified woman standing next to her and repeated, deadpan: "Wow, wow, wow," before pulling a face and laughing. E! / Via x.com Needless to say, the clip immediately went viral once it was posted to X, with Leighton being accused of "mocking" Ari. One quote-tweet that has been liked more than 10k times simply asks: "why did she mock her? 😭😭😭" E! / Via x.com "Did she just mock Ariana saying wow 😒" another tweet reads. An Ariana fan account echoed: "maybe i'm too woke but her mocking ariana instead of saying ily back??"While somebody else tweeted: "the way they are actively laughing AT her is sending me."One more said: "She doesn't have to say ily back but the mocking was a bit mean girl-ish." However, others sprang to Leighton's defense, with one tweet insisting: "She wasn't mocking, she was charmed and repeating it playfully cuz Ari's delivery was so adorably extra 😭 pure fangirl energy on both sides." E! / Via x.com Another theorized: "lol she probably just liked the way she said it sometimes i repeat things ppl say too not in a mean way tho."Somebody else argued: "Leighton looked stunned and giggly. It's a cute convo.." You can watch the clip below - let me know what you think in the comments!ariana fangirling over leighton meester 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/dEyC7AzxT8- cameron (@cambeserious) January 4, 2026 E! / Via Twitter: @cambeserious