Cynthia Erivo Reacts to "Offensive" 'Wicked' Poster Fan Edits

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande attend the red carpet ahead of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on July 26, 2024 in Paris, France

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Cynthia Erivo has condemned "offensive" fan edits of the Wicked movie poster.

On her Instagram Stories on Oct. 16, the actress reposted fan art originally posted by the account @wickedmexicofans, which is an edited version of the official movie poster. The edits modified the real poster to make it look like the Wicked Broadway poster, in which Elphaba's eyes are covered as Glinda whispers in her ear.

On the movie poster, Erivo's Elphaba's eyes are looking directly into the camera as Ariana Grande's Glinda whispers in her ear.

Alongside the edits, Erivo wrote, "This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen I have seen equal to that awful AI of us fighting, equal to people posting 'is your ***** green?'

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

She continued, "The original [Broadway] poster is an ILLUSTRATION. I am a real life human being, who chose to look 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 and Ariana Grande — Cynthia Erivo expressed her hurt over fan edits of the *Wicked* poster on Instagram Stories.

In a second Story, Erivo posted the movie's actual poster with the words, "Let me put this right here, to remind you and cleanse your palette" along with two green heart emojis.

The movie's director, Jon M. Chu, reposted the actress' message with the words, "@cynthiaerivo is my superhero."

Jon M. Chu on Instagram — Jon M. Chu showed his support for Cynthia Erivo on Instagram.

There's not much longer to wait now, with the movie set for release in theaters on Nov. 22. It also stars Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh, and Grande's boyfriend Ethan Slater.

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Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.