How Ben Platt’s ‘Diet Pepsi’ Cover Happened, According to Bowen Yang: EXCLUSIVE

Have we finally gotten a song of the summer? The internet appears to have deemed Ben Platt’s emotional rendition of “Diet Pepsi,” by Addison Rae, as a late-stage contender.

Platt performed the cover at the Las Culturistas Culture Awards, which aired Aug. 5 on Bravo, and fans quickly became obsessed with the heartfelt string arrangement of Rae’s whispery pop anthem.

Bowen Yang, one of the co-hosts of the culture awards, tells TODAY.com that Platt was “on board” to be at the ceremony, and that he and his co-host Matt Rogers knew Platt “doing anything — a presenting bit, a comedy bit, a song, whatever — was gonna be gold, no matter what.”

“We wanted to do something of the past year that was, like, kind of monoculture-y,” Yang says. “It feels like ‘Diet Pepsi’ was this thing that we all locked in on as a culture.”

“And so we were like, but wait, wouldn’t a really gorgeous, lush, orchestral version of ‘Diet Pepsi’ sung by Ben Platt — wouldn’t that be amazing?” Yang adds. “It was Matt’s idea, and then we both pitched it to (Platt), and he was so on board with it.”

Rogers also explained how the cover came to be on the Aug. 6 episode of the “Not to Make This About Me” podcast.

“Ben Platt sings Addison Rae’s ‘Diet Pepsi,’ in the style of an Oscar ballad, and it’s as good as you think,” Rogers said. “It’s better than you think.”

Rogers said it was his idea for Platt to sing “Diet Pepsi” once they had Platt booked for the show.

“I don’t know why I went there, but I was just like, ‘That’s what should happen.’ And I texted him,” Rogers recalled. “I was like, ‘I have an idea for you.’ He’s like, ‘What is the idea?’ I said it to him. He listened to the song, and he was like, ‘Oh, my God, the key change.’”

“I mean, suffice it to say, he turned it on his own rendition of it,” Rogers added.

At the Las Culturistas Culture Awards, Platt sang in front of several members of a string orchestra, putting a sincere spin on Rae’s breakout pop hit.

“And, I mean, he nails that key change,” Yang tells TODAY.com.

The performance went viral after it aired on Aug. 5; one clip shared on the Bravo TikTok account has more than 3 million views.

“I know this is a joke but I always thought the lyrics of Diet Pepsi were very emotional in a way and I think Ben showed that here,” a TikToker wrote in the comments.

“We talking about him but I love that we live in a timeline where people are out here covering Addison Rae on stage,” another TikToker commented, adding a crying emoji.

“But why does this slap,” another person said.

“He just Kelly Clarksoned this song,” one commenter wrote, referring to Clarkson’s “Kellyoke” series.

“Lowkey….. put this on Spotify,” another commenter said.

And by Saturday night, the cover appeared on Spotify.

“Ask and ye shall receive. Diet Pepsi (Live from 2025 Las Culturistas Culture Awards) streaming now,” Platt wrote in the caption of an Aug. 10 Instagram post.

Though “Diet Pepsi” was nominated for Record of the Year at the Las Culturistas Culture Awards, it lost out to Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra,” which Yang and Rogers performed at the ceremony.