The much-anticipated musical fantasy is adapted from Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel of the same title and L. Frank Baum’s 1900 book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
The first part of the story traces Elphaba’s journey to becoming the Wicked Witch of the West, alongside her unexpected friendship and later rivalry with Glinda the Good Witch.
Poised to be a blockbuster, the film features a star-studded cast, including Erivo, Ariana Grande, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathon Bailey, and Ethan Slater, among others.
As excitement builds for Wicked, a heavily altered version of one of the film’s promotional posters has gone viral, leaving Cynthia Erivo far from pleased.
One fan backs Erivo’s response, commenting: “Wow, that fan-edited Wicked poster is wild! Cynthia Erivo’s right to call it out – it’s super offensive and disrespectful.”
Another adds: “Cynthia had every right to be upset about the Wicked poster, and I think many forget she’s human. And most importantly, it’s her opinion.”
A third person chimes in: “The Wicked poster was never going to be exact because it was animated vs a live-action and Cynthia got every right to be upset,”
A fourth user writes: “You know what? Cynthia Erivo has a completely valid reaction. The internet has just deemed it okay for us to say hurtful things and to play it off with ‘it’s just a joke.'”
However, some feel that Erivo has ‘overreacted’ to the fan-made edit.
One person explains: “The musical fans just wanted a poster that matched the musical poster. It wasn’t a personal attack. I think she’s overreacting on that.”
A second adds, “They (rabid online Wicked fans) were editing the photo to look like the musical. She’s overreacted to an astounding degree.”
Another comment reads: “Really? They just made the new poster similar to the old one. And the old one is a classic.”
Someone else states: “Cynthia Erivo overreacted and has caused so much negative publicity for the movie now,”
Amid the controversy over the poster, co-star Ariana Grande has shared her perspective, saying: “It’s very complicated.”
Speaking to Variety, the ‘we can’t be friends’ singer explained, “I think it’s very complicated because I find AI so conflicting and troublesome sometimes, but I think it’s just kind of such a massive adjustment period.
“This is something that is so much bigger than us, and the fans are gonna have fun and make their edits.”
When asked if she thinks fans might go too far with their edits, Grande responded, “I think so. And I have so much respect for my sister, Cynthia, and I love her so much.”
“It’s just a big adjustment period. It’s so much stimulation about something that’s so much bigger than us.”
In the illustrated poster for the Wicked musical, Elphaba’s eyes are hidden by the brim of her hat, and her lips are bright red, shaped in a grin.
The movie’s version is a bit different, featuring Cynthia Erivo looking straight at the camera, without the bright red lips.
Fan-edited versions of the movie poster are now circulating, making it look more like the original illustration, with Erivo’s face partially covered.
Reacting to the edited poster, Erivo has expressed that she feels ‘deeply hurt.’
In her Instagram story and on X (formerly Twitter), Cynthia Erivo wrote: “This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen, equality to that awful AI of us fighting, equal to people post 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.”
Watch the official trailer for Wicked below…
