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Cynthia Erivo calls out Wicked poster edits: 'Wildest, most offensive thing I have seen'
Fans have edited Wicked movie posters to look more like the Broadway poster.
You better not cross this Wicked Witch!
Wicked star Cynthia Erivo, who plays Elphaba in the upcoming movie adaptation of the beloved musical, has taken offense at new fan edits of the movie poster meant to make it look more like the traditional illustrated Broadway poster.
This fall's Wicked movie is expected to be one of the biggest of the year. Not only is it starring Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, and more beloved Hollywood A-listers, but it's also based on one of the most popular Broadway musicals of all time.
Of course, the musical already having a huge fan base has made some compare the upcoming film with the stage version.
Last week, a poster for the film was released showing Glinda whispering in Elphaba's ear. It's a new take on the iconic Broadway poster where an illustration shows something similar, but Elphaba's face is obscured by her hat except for a grin.
Some dedicated fans of the musical immediately criticized the new poster, saying it lacked the charm of the original. Because of this, they took to photoshop, AI, and other tools to "correct" the poster and make it more like what they wanted to see.
Now, Erivo, the film's star and the subject of the poster, has spoken out — and she's not happy.
"This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen, equal to that awful AI of us fighting, equal to the posing the question 'is your ***** green,'" she wrote in her Instagram stories along with a picture of an edited poster. "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 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," she said. "And that is just deeply hurtful."
She also posted the actual poster and wrote: "Let me put this right here, to remind you and cleanse your palette."
Wicked hits theaters on November 22.
Mey Rude is a journalist and cultural critic who has been covering queer news for a decade. The transgender, Latina lesbian lives in Los Angeles with her fiancée.
Mey Rude is a journalist and cultural critic who has been covering queer news for a decade. The transgender, Latina lesbian lives in Los Angeles with her fiancée.
