Featured Image Credit: Theo Wargo/Getty Images / Universal Studios
Topics: Celebrity, Cynthia Erivo, Film and TV, News, Ariana Grande
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: Celebrity, Cynthia Erivo, Film and TV, News, Ariana Grande
Cynthia Erivo says she 'fell out with the internet' after a fan edit of a Wicked poster went viral.
Erivo stars as Elphaba in the movie adaption of the popular Broadway musical alongside Ariana Grande and Bridgerton favorite Jonathan Bailey.
Marketing has been going on for the movie for months in the run-up to its cinematic release on Friday (November 22), with Universal Studios releasing a poster of Erivo and Grande as their respective characters.
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But it wasn't long until a fan supposedly 'fixed' the poster to look more like the original musical's iconic illustration.
There was also an AI video made of Erivo and Grande as Elphaba and Glinda fighting.
Erivo went on to respond to these things, and it's safe to say that she wasn't happy.
Describing the the edited poster as the 'wildest, most offensive thing I have seen', Erivo went on to write: "None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us."
She continued: "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."
Erivo has since reflected on her reaction and hailed it as a 'little human moment'.
"Having that passion for what this piece is and loving it so much and knowing how much I want to communicate through Elphaba, that’s probably where that came from," she told PEOPLE.
"And so in my little human moment I had ... I fell out on the internet, when really I should have just picked up my phone and called a friend."
"We have these human moments," Erivo went on, "and me being human and sensitive, I shared something that I think is part of the little girl in me. I realize that there are so many people who love this just as much as I do."
The uber-talented actress echoed similar sentiments when speaking to Entertainment Tonight at the 2024 CFDA Fashion Awards on October 28.
"I'm passionate about it and I know the fans are passionate about it and I think for me it was just like a human moment of wanting to protect little Elphaba, and it was like a human moment," Erivo said at the time.
Wicked hits cinemas this Friday, November 22.