Cynthia Erivo Admitted She “Probably Should’ve Called” Her Friends Instead Of Publicly Criticizing The “Offensive” Fan-Made “Wicked” Poster
The moral of the story: Always phone a friend.
Cynthia Erivo has reflected on her “passionate” response to a fan-made Wicked poster that went viral this month.
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Firstly, for some context, Cynthia — who is starring as Elphaba in the upcoming Wicked movie — caused a stir a couple of weeks ago when she slammed a “deeply hurtful” fan edit of the new film poster, which had been digitally altered to more closely resemble the original Broadway advert for the musical.
Universal/ Courtesy Everett Collection / Via Instagram: @cynthiaerivo
Posting the fan edit to her Instagram Story, Cynthia called it “the wildest, most offensive thing” she had ever seen. Notably, she specifically called out one of the main changes to the poster: that Elphaba’s were now obscured by her hat.
“None of this is funny. None of this is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us,” she wrote. “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.”
Universal Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
“Our poster is an homage not an imitation, to edit my face and hide my eyes is to erase me. And that is deeply hurtful,” she added.
Cynthia followed up by posting a picture of the actual movie poster, writing: “Let me put this right here, to remind you and cleanse your palette.”
Now, the Emmy, Tony, and Grammy winner has addressed all the attention surrounding her viral statement — seemingly admitting that the drama probably could’ve been avoided if she’d first vented to her friends.
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When asked about her “clapback” while chatting to Entertainment Tonight on the red carpet at last night’s CFDA Awards, Cynthia laughed it off and clarified that “it wasn’t necessarily a clapback.”
“I think I’m really protective of the role,” she said when asked to explain why it was so “important” for her to speak out. “I’m passionate about it, and I know that the fans are passionate about it.”
Entertainment Tonight / Via etonline.com
Emphasizing that it was “a human moment of wanting to protect Elphaba,” Cynthia added: “I probably should’ve called my friends, but it’s fine.”
Ariana Grande — who stars opposite Cynthia in Wicked as Glinda — previously addressed the “complicated” situation while attending the 4th Annual Gala at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on October 19.
Emma Mcintyre / Getty Images for Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
“I think it’s very complicated because I find AI so conflicting and troublesome sometimes, but I think it’s such a massive adjustment period,” she said while speaking to Variety on the red carpet. “This is something that… It’s so much bigger than us.”
After acknowledging that fan edits can sometimes “go too far,” Ariana stood in solidarity with her friend and costar, saying: “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.”
