Frankie Grande Accused of ‘Throwing Shade’ at Tate McRae at 2025 MTV VMAs

Ariana Grande’s brother Frankie Grande was accused of throwing shade at Tate McRae at the 2025 MTV VMAs on Sunday.

He appeared to be scowling and shaking his head while watching the 22-year-old pop singer perform a medley of her two hit singles Revolving Door and Sports Car.

In a backstage POV camera, the Broadway star, 42, was seen staring up at the stage with flashing lights and music playing in the background.

Afterwards, fans took to social media to share clipped footage from the moment before later he was seen sharing his thoughts about McRae’s performance.

He was sitting in the front rows alongside Ariana and their family before his pop star sister took the stage to accept the Moon Person for Video of the Year for Brighter Days Ahead. 

Many social media users pointed out his reaction and accused him of being ‘dramatic’ and ‘giving hater’ energy.

Some fans said that he was ‘unimpressed’ because of his vocal powerhouse of a sister. 

Others claimed he was ‘just gagged’ and reacting like Rihanna’s famously and easily mistaken reaction to seeing a supermodel’s jaw-dropping look on the runway.

Later, he seemed to confirm fans’ speculation that his face of disgust was actually a show of support as he started praising the young star.

On the VMAs Celeb POV stream, he got up close to the microphone to gush about the Sports Car singer.

‘I love Tate McRae. I’m obsessed with her. She’s beautiful and her makeup artist killed it today,’ Frankie said in the video.

Fans also shared a clip of Ariana meeting McRae and Frankie getting up to shake her hand enthusiastically. 

However, others claimed he was doing ‘damage control’ by that point after seeing ‘stan Twitter’ start pointing out his reaction to McRae’s performance. 

One X user tweeted: ‘I thought I was the only one that clocked this but like why is he making that face…’ 

Another person joked that he ‘saw Tate come for Ariana’s crown now he’s mad.’ 

‘This makes him seem like a hater [not gonna lie],’ one fan wrote alongside a crying emoji. 

‘You know how bad you have to be for Frankie Grande to not gag about a pop girl,’ one person tweeted with another teary-eyed emoji. 

However, other fans came to his defense and blamed the flashing lights. ‘Maybe he gave her the Rihanna look idk,’ one person speculated. 

Another person said it ‘seems weird but I think he’s like disgusted cause she’s good.’ 

There were also fans pointing out that he seemed kind when meeting her. 

Frankie was at the awards show to lend his support to his younger sister Ariana. 

At this year’s VMAs, the superstar took home two of the biggest awards of the night — Best Pop and Video of the Year. 

In both categories, she was named the winner for her song Brighter Days Ahead and its adjoining music video. 

Prior to her receiving her Moon Person awards, Ariana was caught in an awkward encounter with Sabrina Carpenter. 

The fellow pop stars were both accused of ‘acting fake’ after leaked footage of their awkward hug.