Cynthia Erivo reveals why she spoke out about Wicked poster controversy

Cynthia Erivo has opened up about why she criticised the edits fans made to the Wicked movie poster.

The hotly anticipated big screen adaptation of the musical stars Erivo as Elphaba, the green Wicked Witch of the West, alongside Ariana Grande as Glinda, the Good Witch of the North.

Wicked's poster is iconic, and even if you haven't had the chance to watch the show on Broadway or in the West End, chances are you have seen it somewhere. The image features both witches, with Elphaba smirking as Glinda whispers into her ear.

The poster was recreated by Erivo and Grande for the Jon M. Chu-directed film. In this version, Elphaba’s eyes can be seen whereas in the broadway poster, her eyes are hidden under the brim of her witch hat.

The official Wicked movie posterWarner Bros.

Fans decided to make their own edits and memes of the movie’s poster, including hiding Erivo’s eyes under the brim of her character’s hat, an AI video of the two co-stars getting into a fight, and added text such as Glinda asking Elphaba, ‘is your p***y green?’.

It seems no one is safe from AI these days.

Erivo was not a fan of the edits, and she made her feelings known by sharing her reaction on her Instagram Story. She was particularly offended by the fan-made poster edit that hid her eyes.

She wrote: “This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen, equal to that awful AI of us fighting, equal to people posing the question ‘is your ***** green’.

“None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us. 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.”

Cynthia Erivo criticised the fan-made Wicked poster.Cynthia Erivo/Instagram

In a new interview with ET to promote the release of Wicked, Erivo reflected on her reaction. “It wasn’t necessarily a clap-back," she said. "I think I’m really protective of the role and just as I’m passionate about… Well I am passionate about it and I know that the fans are passionate about it, and I think for me it was just like a human moment of like, wanting to protect little Elphaba. And it was a human moment.

“I probably should’ve called my friends, but, it’s fine.”

At the time of the poster controversy, fans came out in support of Erivo. Writing on Twitter/X, one person commented: “Of course people are in the replies invalidating her feelings but had Ariana posted this it would be YASSS QUEEEN SET YOUR BOUNDARIES!!!”

Another X user opined: “if you’re having any reaction to this other than ‘we’re sorry and we see you Cynthia’ then u are a part of the problem and need to think of other people’s feelings.”

Wicked will be split into two parts, with the first movie landing in cinemas on 22 November, 2024. The sequel, Wicked Part Two, is scheduled to be released on 21 November, 2025

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