2024-10-17 15:10:03
Cynthia Erivo is blasting “deeply hurtful” fan art that obscures her face in promotional material for the upcoming “Wicked” movie adaptation.
After sharing impressively lifelike fan illustrations on her Instagram Story on Wednesday, Erivo called out a fan edit that rubbed her the wrong way. In an altered version of one of the film’s promotional posters, Ariana Grande‘s Glinda whispers in the ear of Elphaba, aka Erivo, whose face is concealed by her witchy hat.
Though the real poster has Erivo staring down the camera, the edited image aligns more closely with the Broadway musical art.
“This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen equal to that awful AI of us fighting … ” Erivo wrote in her Instagram Story above the edited “Wicked” poster. “None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us.”
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The “AI of us fighting” is a computer-generated clip that transforms Grande and Erivo’s “Wicked” poster poses into the two throwing punches at each other. She also referenced another meme which is a joke about Elphaba’s genitalia that has circulated for a while.
“The original poster is an ILLUSTRATION,” she added. “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 followed up with the real film poster “to remind you and cleanse your palette.”
Director Jon M. Chu showed his support for the Grammy, Tony and Emmy-winning actress in his Instagram Story. He screenshot Erivo’s statement with the correct image and wrote, “♥♥♥ @cynthiaerivo is my superhero ♥♥♥.”
Cynthia Erivo ‘felt very protective’ of Elphaba
During the “Wicked” presentation at CinemaCon in April, Erivo explained the iconic characters of Elphaba and Glinda are “two roles that have been so pivotal in our lives and meant the most to us.”
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