Cynthia Erivo called out an “offensive” fan-edited “Wicked” poster that hides the majority of her face.
On Wednesday, the 37-year-old actress took to her Instagram Story to call attention to the fan art, which she called “deeply hurtful.”
“This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen, equal to that awful Ai of us fighting, equal to people posing the question ‘is your ***** green,’” Erivo wrote atop the doctored poster.
“None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us.”
In the new “Wicked” promo photo, shared by Universal Pictures last week, Erivo’s character Elphaba stares right into the camera as Glinda, played by Ariana Grande, whispers into her ear.
The poster paid homage to the original Broadway poster; however, there are stark contrasts between the two — such as Ervivo’s lipstick color, her expression and, most importantly, her eyes being visible.
After Universal released the new poster, a fan account edited the image to reflect the old poster, covering Erivo’s eyes, swapping her green lipstick for red and changing her expression to a smirk.
The Tony winner clearly wasn’t a fan of the alterations, which she felt diminished her role in the Jon M. Chu-directed film.
“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,” she explained.
“Our poster is an homage not an imitation, to edit my face and hide my eyes is to erase me,” she concluded. “And that is just deeply hurtful.”
The Grammy winner followed up her response with the unedited shot to “cleanse [fans’] palette.”
Chu also seemingly agreed with her sentiment, reposting her response on his Story, adding, “@cynthiaerivo is my superhero. ❤️❤️❤️”
Although Grande didn’t directly address the controversy, she showed subtle support by also resharing the new poster with Erivo’s eyes front and center.
The “Eternal Sunshine” singer and the “Harriet” star grew close while working on the highly anticipated film, which hits theaters on November 22.
Part 2 of the movie will later drop on December 25, 2025.
