Cynthia Erivo is “deeply hurt” by a fan-made poster of Wicked that covers her eyes, calling the photoshopped image “equal to people posting the question, ‘Is your ***** green?’”
Erivo, who stars alongside Ariana Grande in the film adaptation of the book and Broadway show set to release in November, plays Elphaba to Grande’s Glinda. The Tony, Emmy and Grammy Award-winning actress posted the fan-made image to her Instagram stories Wednesday and wrote, “This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen.” The image in question, however, seems to be a recreation of the film poster to make it more akin to the Broadway version, which shows Elphaba with her hat covering her eyes as Glinda whispers into her ear. Erivo wrote that it makes no difference to her, as she was still “deeply hurt” by the fan-made poster.
Poster for original Broadway production of “Wicked the Musical”
Wicked the Musical“The original poster is an ILLUSTRATION,” she wrote, “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,” she continued, explaining her choice in the film version of the poster to have her eyes exposed. “Our poster is an homage, not an imitation, to edit my face and hide my eyes is to erase me.”
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But some fans are saying, “It’s not that deep.”
Others sided with Erivo, agreeing that covering the actress’ eyes had dehumanized her or that if Grande had posted a similar message, she’d have received instant support.
Others say Erivo was clearly joking about being offended—but it appears unlikely, as the Harriet star followed up her original post with an image of the official movie poster that shows her eyes and a message that read “Let me put this right here to remind you and cleanse your palette.” She remained resolved that hiding her eyes in imitation of the beloved Broadway play was “not funny.”
“It degrades me” and “It degrades us,” she wrote.
