Entertainment
Cynthia Erivo Recalls Her Reaction to Fan-Made ‘Wicked’ Poster: ‘I Probably Should have Called My Friends’
It’s often said that hindsight is 20/20 – and within the case of Cynthia Erivo, it proves true. During an interview with Entertainment Tonight on the 2024 CFDA Fashion Awards on Monday night, the award-winning actress reflected on her recent backlash against a superfan-edited version of the poster for the highly anticipated film adaptation of “Wicked.”
“It wasn’t necessarily a slap. I actually protect this role. I’m very enthusiastic about it and I do know the fans adore it too,” she said publication. “I believe for me it was only a human moment where I wanted to protect little Elphaba, and it was like a human moment. I probably should have called my friends, but I’m nice.
Earlier this month, Erivo made headlines after reacting to a fan-modified version of the film’s official poster. Despite the intention to mirror the illustrated artwork of the unique and much-loved Broadway musical, Erivo was offended by the fan-made poster, which was edited to obscure the star’s eyes.
“This is the wildest and most offensive thing I have ever seen,” she wrote on her Instagram Stories on the time. “None of this is funny. None of this is sweet. This humiliates me. It humiliates us. The original poster is an ILLUSTRATION. I am a real person who chose to look straight into the camera barrel, at you, the viewer… because without words we communicate with our eyes.”
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The actress went on to explain that the video and its official artwork were intended to pay homage and never to recreate the unique poster.
“Editing my face and hiding my eyes is erasing me. And it’s just deeply painful,” she added.
This response was followed by a fan who reportedly created a poster that Erivo found offensive on Xexplaining the intentions behind the poster.
“This is and always has been an innocent fan edit intended to pay homage to the original Broadway poster and there is nothing wrong with that,” they wrote within the X thread, reposting the photo. “Although I initially removed it because I felt it was the right thing to do, fan posters have been around for as long as movies have existed. I never intended to cause any harm… I will also say that Cynthia is right to have her feelings on this matter, and I am also right to want to stand by my version of the poster because I truly meant no harm and I just created it to show love for the original. Both may be true.”
The first a part of the film adaptation of “Wicked” will hit theaters on November 22, and the sequel is scheduled for release next yr.