Kenan Thompson Teases Whoopi Goldberg On ‘The View’ After She Pulls A John Travolta And Mispronounces Ariana Grande’s Name

Whoopi Goldberg and Kenan Thompson shared a hilarious moment on The View after Goldberg flubbed Ariana Grande‘s name.

The View kicked off Thompson’s segment with a clip from a recent skit with Grande which aired during Saturday Night Live‘s Christmas episode.

Goldberg attempted to introduce Thompson for the segment through her laughter, but she accidentally mispronounced the Wicked star’s name in her excitement to get Thompson on stage.

“That was the great Kenan Thompson stealing the show on the pre-Christmast Saturday Night Live with Adriana Grande,” she said, earning corrections and laughter from her co-host. “Ariana! My God, you know, I just want Kenan to come out, so come on out, Kenan!”

The flub sounds a lot like John Travolta’s infamously brutal mispronouncing of Frozen star Idina Menzel’s name at the 2014 Oscars, when he bizarrely called her, “Adele Dazeem.

Later, the SNL icon dished on the “Wicked craze” he and his daughters – Georgia, 10, and Gianna, 7, – found themselves in after watching Jon M. Chu’s series and the Broadway musical.

“I just got thrust into the Wicked world all at once and we saw the second movie, and we bought all the commemorative popcorn buckets,” he explained. “I don’t know if you saw this or not, but there was a bucket for Adriana and there was a bucket for Cynthia [Erivo].”

Thompson’s nod towards Goldberg’s mishap earned a huge laugh from the audience.

“I’m sorry, Ariana!” Goldberg exclaimed.

Goldberg and Thompson share much history together. Thompson famously played Goldberg multiple times on Saturday Night Live skits that satirized The View. Goldberg looked back on his run when Leslie Jones, who later played Goldberg on SNL, visited The View in 2025.

Goldberg joked that seeing Thompson and Jones onscreen was “like looking at myself twice,” prompting Jones to reveal, “He loved it, he loved it! He actually loved playing you.”

But Goldberg later admitted that she “loved” that “finally women were playing us” on SNL.

“Because for the longest time, it was all these guys playing us,” Goldberg said at the time, prompting Joy Behar  to add, “You and me, you and me. We were played by guys.”

The View airs on weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.