Cynthia Erivo breaks silence after facing backlash for calling Wicked fan poster the 'wildest most offensive thing' she's seen

Cynthia Erivo has reflected on her response to a fan-made Wicked poster that went viral earlier this month and stirred a divisive reaction from the musical's fans.

The actress is starring alongside Ariana Grande in an upcoming movie adaption of the Broadway musical Wicked, inspired by the world of The Wizard of Oz and based on Gregory Maguire's novel of the same name.

On October 16, Erivo shared an image to her Instagram Story of a fan-edited Wicked poster that attempted to recreate the illustrated poster used by the original Broadway musical for years.

A fan edited Wicked's movie poster to try and recreate the original Broadway poster. (Universal Pictures)

In her Instagram Stories, Erivo described the edited poster as the 'wildest, most offensive thing I have seen.'

"None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us," she added. "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," she continued.

Erivo explained she feels 'passionate' about the film and wanted to 'protect' her character. (Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)

Since then, Erivo has explained why she decided to speak out on the poster telling Entertainment Tonight at the 2024 CFDA Fashion Awards: "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."

"I probably should have called my friends, but it's fine," she added.

Erivo's initial response to the fan-edited poster caused a divisive stir online with some users rendering it as an overreaction and others coming to her defense.

One user on Twitter noted, "If I see one more tweet saying 'she's doing too much' 'it's just a poster'...they paid homage to the Broadway poster but that doesn't give YOU the right to edit her face from the poster."

Another user added, "I don't care how much you love the original poster. For a show that’s all about prejudice and the color of a young woman's skin the racism couldn't be any clearer. You do not deserve this film."

Erivo's co-star Ariana Grande also addressed the poster. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Ariana Grande also addressed the viral fan-edit and her co-star's response telling Variety at the Academy Museum Gala on October 19, "This is something that is so much bigger than us, and the fans are gonna have fun and make their edits."

"I have so much respect for my sister Cynthia, and I love her so much," she continued. "It's just a big adjustment period. It's so much stimulation about something that's so much bigger than us."

Wicked releases in theaters on November 22.