British actress Cynthia Erivo has expressed strong disapproval towards a fan who altered her image from the 'Wicked' film poster, labeling it as 'offensive' and 'deeply hurtful.' Erivo, who plays Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) in the upcoming adaptation of the popular Broadway musical, features on the poster alongside Ariana Grande, who portrays Glinda. In a nod to the iconic stage play advertisement, Glinda is seen whispering to Elphaba. However, unlike the original, where Elphaba smirks with her eyes covered by her black hat, the film poster shows her looking straight ahead.
One fan decided to modify the film poster to more closely resemble the original stage show's, a decision that Erivo found to be 'the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen.' She emphasized, '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 also criticized other 'Wicked' memes circulating online, including one that made a crude joke about Elphaba’s anatomy and an AI-generated video depicting the two actresses fighting. 'This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen, equal to that awful AI of us fighting, equal to people posting the question, ‘is your ***** green,' she said. 'None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us.' Erivo then shared the unaltered film poster with the caption: 'Let me put this right here, to remind you and cleanse your palette.'
'Wicked' is directed by Jon M. Chu and is set to be released on 22 November, the same date as Ridley Scott’s 'Gladiator II.' This has sparked fan speculation about a potential 'Glicked' double-bill, similar to the 'Barbenheimer' trend. The musical film, also starring Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, and Bowen Yang, will be released in two parts, with the second part reportedly dropping on 25 December 2025.
