broadway bares

What is Ariana Grande’s boyfriend Ethan Slater doing in this amateur man-on-man wrestling video??

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Image Credit: ‘FunEmployment,’ Pureland Pictures (Vimeo)

When the star-studded cast of Wicked—the big-screen adaptation of the blockbuster musical—was announced, there was one name that really stood out…

We’ve all been bopping along to Ariana Grande’s music for the past decade, Cynthia Erivo’s showstopping vocals made her one of most sought-after names in the industry, Bowen Yang is one of the breakout players on SNL, Michelle Yeoh was fresh off her well-deserved Oscar win, and Jonathan Bailey… well, everyone’s got a crush on him!

So, who then was Ethan Slater? As the sweet-natured Munchkin Boq, Slater was one of the least well-known of the film’s main ensemble—at least to general audiences—with no prior major screen credits to his name.

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However, Broadway fans were very familiar—they knew him as SpongeBob Squarepants! That is, he played the titular role in the buzzy musical version of the beloved cartoon character who lives in a pineapple under the sea.

Of course, post-Wicked announcement, it wasn’t long until Slater’s name was everywhere: After tabloids noticed him spending a lot of time with Ariana Grande, the actor filed for divorce from his wife of five years (they had a son together in 2022), and soon the co-stars were officially dating.

Now everyone wants to know Slater’s business—which is presumably why a random clip from a 2017 short of his has resurfaced on the internet and is raising plenty of eyebrows. See it for yourself:

First of all: Yup, Slater is ripped. Again, the Broadway crowd has known this for a while—dubbing him “hot Spongebob” thanks to the way his biceps bulged out of the character’s signature shirt—but it’s still shocking to see all those muscles he’s quietly packing.

But second of all… what, exactly, are we looking at here?

The viral clip—which bears the logo of amateur adult film site GayHoopla in the top corner—shows a shirtless Slater and another man getting in an argument over money, and momentarily wrestling while a completely unfazed woman looks on.

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These gays, they’re trying to make me into an inadvertent adult film star!

The homoerotic wrestling match, the poorly decorated setting, the oddly warm lighting, the (no offense, guys!) so-so acting, the complete lack of interest or acknowledgement from the female character… everything about the clip reminds us of some other videos we’ve watched in the privacy of our own homes.

Wait a minute, does Slater have a gay-for-pay past? Was he taking some amateur gigs to pay the bills while he pursued his Broadway dreams? Not that we’re judging, but that sure would be an unexpected twist!

And we weren’t the only ones surprised:

But you can’t believe everything you see on the internet. Turns out, some troll with a wicked sense of humor edited that “GayHoopla” logo onto the video, and the clip’s not from a gay adult film at all—just an independent comedy short that happens to look an awful lot like a gay adult film…

With a brief bit of sleuthing, we discovered the clip is from a 2017 short film called FunEmployment which, per IMDB, is about a “manny/aspiring comedian” named Isaac who “gets his *ss kicked (literally and figuratively) but has fun anyway.”

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A few years back, the short’s writer-director Emily Abt uploaded it to Vimeo with the note that FunEmployment was a “no budget” affair, which likely explains why it has the same aesthetic of so many of amateur *ahem* films we’ve stumbled across on the internet.

And Slater’s role—as “Isaac’s roommate”—isn’t much more than what you see in the above clip. Sorry to break it to you, but, no, the guys don’t take their little tussle on the floor to the bedroom, or anything like that.

Still, if you want to check out FunEmployment for yourself—at least to see Slater’s abs in hi-def—there are worse ways to spend 11 minutes. Check it out below:

The question remains: Will Slater get to show off that bod in Oz, too? We’ll find out when Wicked: Part One arrives to theaters on November 27, 2024.

And don’t forget to vote for Wicked, nominated for “Next Big Thing,” at this year’s Queerties Awards.

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