Cynthia Erivo recently discussed her reaction to a fan-created Wicked poster, which went viral and sparked mixed responses among fans of the musical.
Erivo is set to star with Ariana Grande in the forthcoming film adaptation of the Broadway hit Wicked, which is inspired by The Wizard of Oz and based on the novel by Gregory Maguire.
On October 16, Erivo posted an image on her Instagram Story of a fan-edited Wicked poster, which tried to mimic the iconic illustrated poster of the long-running Broadway show.
.webp)
In her Instagram Stories, Erivo described the edited image as “the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen.”
“None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us,” Erivo commented. “The original poster is an ILLUSTRATION. I am a real-life human being, who chose to look right down the barrel of the camera to you, the viewer…because, without words, we communicate with our eyes.”
“Our poster is an homage not an imitation, to edit my face and hide my eyes is to erase me. And that is just deeply hurtful,” she elaborated further.
Following the incident, Erivo spoke to Entertainment Tonight at the 2024 CFDA Fashion Awards about her decision to address the poster. She expressed, “I’m passionate about it and I know the fans are passionate about it and I think for me it was just like a human moment of wanting to protect little Elphaba, and it was like a human moment.”
She humorously added, “I probably should have called my friends, but it’s fine.”
Erivo’s initial reaction to the fan-edited poster led to divided opinions online, with some users considering it an overreaction while others supported her stance.
A Twitter user remarked, “If I see one more tweet saying ‘she’s doing too much’ ‘it’s just a poster’…they paid homage to the Broadway poster but that doesn’t give YOU the right to edit her face from the poster.”
Another user commented, “I don’t care how much you love the original poster. For a show that’s all about prejudice and the color of a young woman’s skin the racism couldn’t be any clearer. You do not deserve this film.”
Ariana Grande, who co-stars with Erivo, also commented on the viral fan-edit and Erivo’s response during an interview with Variety at the Academy Museum Gala on October 19. She said, “This is something that is so much bigger than us, and the fans are gonna have fun and make their edits.”
“I have so much respect for my sister Cynthia, and I love her so much,” Grande added. “It’s just a big adjustment period. It’s so much stimulation about something that’s so much bigger than us.”
The movie Wicked is scheduled for release in theaters on November 22.