Cynthia Erivo is feeling hurt and "degraded" by fans who have made alterations to the latest poster released for her movie, Wicked. The film is based on the hit Broadway musical and the new poster features Erivo as the green witch Elphaba and her co-star, Ariana Grande, as fellow witch Glinda, who is whispering in her ear.
Fans moved Grande's hand up and tilted Erivo's hat down to shade her eyes, as well as switching her green lipstick to red with a slight smile, in order to better match the Broadway poster, seen above at right.
"This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen..." Erivo wrote on her Instagram story, at left above. "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 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."
The movie version of the Broadway hit has been divided into two parts, with Wicked releasing November 22, 2024 and Wicked: Part 2 hitting theaters a little over a year later on December 25, 2025. What do you think about the posters above? Tell us in the comment section below. ~Alexandra Heilbron
I kind of get what she is saying, but the person/people who made the edits really seemed to only want to match the Wicked animated poster. It's not erasing her, it's just to make the live version look the same. I have to be honest, when I went to see the show in my closest big city, I lost interest in the play really quick. I think I feel asleep. Not sure I will see this either. Both posters look good. I prefer the new edited one though.
I like the edited one that looks more like the Broadway version. There's something scary about the one with green lips, and Elphaba isn't supposed to be scary.
I think she has a right to be annoyed but even more so for the disgusting meme that is viral about an intimate part of her body. This is a family film and kids should not be exposed to reading that nor the actress subjected to it.
Wow. Most offensive thing? All the things happening in the world including kids being killed and abused. And this is the most offensive thing. What's offensive is the self importance.
Society shouldn't enable narcissistic personalities. She took a fan's innocuous attempt to match the design of an iconic poster as a personal insult. As pointed out, the individual also edited Ariana Grande to align with the original look. It was nothing personal. This is such a nothing burger to get offended by that part of me thinks it's a deliberate attempt at viral publicity. By feigning outrage, Cynthia got this movie free coverage on nearly every outlet that covers celebrities. The real problem is if those that support Cynthia's nonsense start harassing the person who edited the poster. Odds are they aren't millionaires with someone else running their social media pages.
Best question is, WHO CARES?
Not sure what’s so offensive about it. It’s obviously an attempt to match up to the OG poster. I bet the person who altered the movie poster is a fan of the Wicked story itself and now all she’s done is yucked their yum, as the kids are saying. There’s nothing racist or malicious or offensive about it at all. I’m a huge Wicked fan, I read the books when they first came out, have seen the musical four times and was looking forward to the movie, but her attitude is gross so maybe I’ll skip it.
The article leaves out that there are also viral memes out there talking about her private parts. That’s another reason for her to be annoyed and calling those people out. That factor has been in numerous articles but not mentioned here.
Hi Geoff, thank you for bringing that up, I appreciate the chance to explain why I didn't include it. Are you referencing the question about whether a certain part of Elphaba's anatomy is green? That wasn't directed at Cynthia, but was graffiti that was originally written on the posters in New York City for the Broadway show beginning in 2012.
It’s fan art. Obviously done by someone who loves the original theatrical production. If I was an actor, I’d be impressed that someone took the time to remake the poster as they thought it should be done.
Wow someone using the race card for no reason. In this case it was about matching the original poster. Does she think she is that important? Also as someone said that is the most offensive thing she's seen? Shows again she thinks she is that important.
I think Cynthia Erivo is right leave it like it is change is good. I don’t even see why they had to do that in the first place to go back to the original leave it.
Talk about misjudging intent! She feels badly? Just think about how the fan who created the changed image must feel now, but I guess the feelings are all about her. In this age of narcissistic self-importance some people afford themselves, the only thing that perhaps should be "erased" is Erivo's attitude. People who can't get their priorities straight when we are living on a planet in crisis should spend less time in their "ivory towers", or whatever materials her tower happens to be made of, and discover what real tragedy is. I suggest she take some of those millions the studio gave her and use it toward getting a really good psychiatrist so she can work out her "issues". Just makes me want to give this movie a miss, rather than further enrich someone who can't see, even when her eyes aren't shaded by her witch hat.
Actors are such a toxic combination of insecurity and narcissism. Society really needs to stop putting these diseased people on pedestals.
Oh lord, where does the outrage and personal offense end? How is the act of altering the movie art by some keyboard artists 'erase' her? Does she have such a tiny amount of self-esteem and humility to NOT take everything so damned seriously? I am an artist and I too like to take images and create them in a way that is more pleasing and visually pleasing. These fans were NOT trying to erase her, but this sure gives her and the movie the 15 minutes of fame she would probably not have otherwise. Scandal and outrage sells social media air time, which is the end-goal these days. Get over yourself, Ms. Erivo. Not everyone is out to assault and insult you. You want your freedom of speech and the right to express your own self, Ms. Erivo, yet when others do it, and it happens to be an image of you, then *boom* it all becomes about outrage, offense, and (wait for it) likely the eventual bringing in of the race card regarding all this. Somehow this will become about black oppression and racism.
Hollywood exists only for the ego's of the self-entitled, narcissistic, emotionally damaged "artists" and celebrities. Get over it, Ms. Erivo. It is not all about you, and besides, who cares what keyboard artists did to your photo. I think it is an improvement, actually, and that has nothing to do w. Especially the red lipstick. How all that became a personal attack on her, I can't even fathom. This has got to stop! People like her, and these full-grown infants in our society, really do need to work on their insecurity issues, and stop acting as if they are the only human beings that matter in this world. Because they are far from it. The people altering this image actually did a very good job, and it is (in my opinion) not at all erasing her. Not unless her sense of identity & worth is so fragile that it can be erased by something as benign as this. And as for her feeling that this is the most offensive thing she has ever experienced, wow, she must have lived her life in a bubble.
A black woman playing the role of a green woman. that's raciss!
KIM HAVE A GOOD POINT!