‘Wicked’ Actress Flips Over Movie Poster Edited By Fans, Calls It ‘Most Offensive Thing’

Actress Cynthia Erivo is not happy that fans decided to alter and circulate a movie poster for her upcoming film, “Wicked.”

The highly anticipated adaptation of the Broadway musical features a very similar looking poster to the original, which depicts Glinda (Ariana Grande) whispering into the ear of Elphaba (Erivo). The Broadway version shows Elphaba’s witch hat tipped down and hiding her eyes while the movie version gives a clear image of the star’s whole face.

“Wicked” fans headed to social media to circulate an updated version of the movie poster that more closely resembles the Broadway version. That meant Erivo’s eyes were hidden and she was sporting red lipstick. The actress hit back on Instagram, saying the changes were “offensive” to her as a human being.

Cynthia Erivo has reacted to viral edits of the ‘WICKED’ poster:

“This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen, equal to that awful AI of us fighting… Our poster is an homage not an imitation, to edit my face & hide my eyes is to erase me. That is just deeply hurtful” pic.twitter.com/y3P1Qh379S

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) October 16, 2024

“This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen equal to that awful AI of us fighting, equal to people posing the the question ‘is your ***** green?” Erivo shared to her Instagram stories alongside an image of the offending Photoshopped poster, per Variety. “None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us.”

“The original poster is an Illustration,” she continued. “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.”

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Erivo referenced her disgust over an AI-generated video of the two main characters getting into a fight. She also mentioned the “is your p**** green” memes that have been going around since the film was announced, the outlet noted.

“Wicked” is being released in two parts, with the first installment hitting theaters on November 22. The Broadway musical is based on the book “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” which was inspired by L. Frank Baum’s novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” 

The musical “Wicked” is told from the perspective of the two witches, Elphaba and Glinda, before and after Dorothy’s arrival in Oz. The Broadway show has won numerous awards and broken records, plus raked in more than $1 billion in total revenue over its more than two-decades-long run.