Advertisement

Ariana Grande and James Corden celebrate end of US Covid lockdowns with skit

Ariana Grande stopped by The Late Late Show last night to do a Hairspray parody  (The Late Show with James Corden)
Ariana Grande stopped by The Late Late Show last night to do a Hairspray parody (The Late Show with James Corden)

Ariana Grande joined James Corden for one of her first TV appearances since getting married, celebrating the end of mass lockdowns in the US as California fully reopened its economy and New York lifted its remaining restrictions.

The 27-year-old singer appeared in a skit on The Late Late Show in a pastiche of the song Good Morning Baltimore from the musical Hairspray, this time dubbed No Lockdowns Anymore.

Grande tied the knot with Los Angeles real estate agent Dalton Gomez on May 15 in an intimate ceremony with fewer than 20 guests.

The video shows Corden emerging on to the streets of New York from his house two weeks after getting his vaccination, turning off Zoom and shaving off his huge plaited beard.

Meanwhile Grande emerges from a salon after having a haircut and returns to the gym, singing: "Say hi on the street, a kiss on the cheek, it's been so long since I put on my shoes.

"So let's hit the club or get drunk and get matching tattoos."

The pair dance through the streets together, singing: "It's what we've been waiting for, to embrace all that life has in store.

"It's time to make new memories, once you've got the vaccine, hug your family, feeling so relived. No lockdowns, we're free."

New York's governor has said the state is returning to "life as we know it" after at least 70 per cent of adults in New York have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 jab.

 (REUTERS)
(REUTERS)

Fireworks lit up the skies over New York as the state celebrated the lifting of most restrictions. Restaurants will no longer be forced to space tables six feet apart and cinemas will be allowed to fill auditoriums.

Restrictions limiting the size of gatherings were also lifted and forced some businesses to follow cleaning protocols and take people’s temperatures. Masks will still be required on public transport.

Governor Andrew Cuomo hailed it as “a momentous day”.

Last year, New York became an epicentre for the coronavirus, recording more than 2 million infections and over 53,000 deaths from Covid-19.

The celebrations came despite the US, the worst-affected country during the global pandemic, hitting another grim milestone as the number of people who have died with the virus passing 600,000 from more than 33 million cases.

Meanwhile California is lifting capacity limits and social distancing requirements, and removing mask requirements for people who have been vaccinated.

It comes just days after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a delay to the road map out of lockdown in the UK.

Legal restrictions were expected to lift on June 21, but this has now been put back to July 19.

Read More

Here come the 2021 bride tribes—but which one are you?

Spider webs blanket Australian landscape after floods

Best pictures of the day

How the London melting pot can be the ideas factory of the world