As we approach the release of the highly anticipated Wicked film starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, fans have been expressing their excitement across social media platforms. However, amidst all the online chatter, Erivo has encountered something that actually rubbed her the wrong way.
The entertainer stumbled upon a fan who used Photoshop to alter one of the recent posters for the upcoming film adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical. Earlier this month, Universal Pictures unveiled the official poster, showcasing Erivo’s character, Elphaba, adorned with green lipstick and gazing directly into the camera, while her co-star Ariana Grande’s character, Glinda, whispers in her ear. In the edited version, Elphaba’s hat is slightly adjusted to obscure Erivo’s eyes.
While some fans noted that the poster was lightly edited to resemble the Broadway version, Erivo ultimately found these alterations to be hurtful. She took to her Instagram Story to express her thoughts, stating:
“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 p—- green?” Erivo shared on her Instagram story, alongside the photoshopped “Wicked” poster featuring her face covered. “None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us.”
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She elaborated, “The original poster is an illustration,” Erivo continued. “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.”
Erivo also took a stand against a viral AI-generated video that depicted the poster morphing into a fight between the two stars/characters along with other memes.
Now, in a follow-up Instagram post, Erivo shared the original poster “to remind you and cleanse your palette.”
“Wicked” is set to hit theaters on November 22, courtesy of Universal Pictures, with a second film scheduled for release in 2025.