A now viral fan-edited poster for "Wicked" has triggered a chain reaction, with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande — who play frenemies Elphaba Thropp and Glinda Upland in the upcoming film — positioned at the center of an online firestorm.
While both stars were traveling across the country to promote the film adaptation of the Broadway musical, set to hit screens on November 22, new photos of the movie poster were shared with the public, emulating imagery from the musical that inspired it. However, there were some slight changes that one fan took issue with online — namely, the fact that Elphaba's eyes were visible and not covered by the brim of her witch's hat, as in the original Playbill — so they changed it.
With the power of Photoshop, the fan took to TikTok to debut their edit of the poster, with their version pulling the witch hat further down Erivo's face, covering her eyes. The edit also changed Elphaba's lip color from green to red and upturned her lips. Safe to say, the edit wasn't met lightly by Erivo, who lashed out in a post to Instagram, writing, “This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen, equal to that awful Ai of us fighting, equal to people posing the question ‘is your ***** green.' None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us.”
Erivo continued, in a now heavily memed line, “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.”
Since Erivo addressed the controversy regarding the fan-edited poster, there's been a serious uptick in nasty memes about her, pushing back on her statements.
Why is the internet trolling Erivo so hard over this? And what does Grande have to say about it? Salon explains it all:
The internet memes Erivo not once, but twice
When Erivo called out the edited fan poster, the Tony winner also made mention of her disgust over an AI-generated video of the poster that depicts Erivo and Grande fighting each other. The AI video has been viewed a million times on X and continues to circulate on the internet, trolling the relationship dynamic between frenemies Elphaba and Glinda, and the actors themselves.
Even worse, there is also another meme circulating on the internet that sexualizes Elphaba, featuring text that reads: "Is your p***y green?"
Erivo made it clear to "Wicked" fans that this is unacceptable.
In her statement about the poster, Erivo hammered down on the offensiveness of this, writing, "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." However, this line is being used in an endless meme format on X, with countless tweets that have been viewed millions of times.
One X user riffed on her comment by sharing a video of a green drag queen with bulging eyes.
Writer and journalist Hunter Harris played off Build-A-Bear's new "Wicked" bears: "Elphaba choosing to look right down the barrel of the camera to you, the viewer — good."
Another user, posting a photo of Karlie Kloss' "looking camp right in the eye" Met Gala photo, wrote, "Cynthia Erivo looking right down the barrel of the camera to look at you, the viewer, right in the eye."
One person even brought Halsey's viral "The Greatest Impersonator" homage to Britney Spears into the mix, writing, "I hope she doesn’t impersonate Cynthia Erivo because that would be just deeply hurtful, like erasing her."
Ariana Grande's statement and responses to it
Following the meme storm, Ervio's co-star Ariana Grande addressed the controversy in a quote to Variety at the Academy Museum Gala on Saturday.
“I think it’s very complicated because I find AI so conflicting and troublesome sometimes, but I think it’s just kind of such a massive adjustment period. This is something that is so much bigger than us, and the fans are gonna have fun and make their edits,” Grande stated.
When questioned whether the memes and AI have gone too far, Grande said, “I think so. And I have so much respect for my sister, Cynthia, and I love her so much."
However, people online are not buying Grande's support of her cast member.
"You can tell she doesn’t feel the same way but was very respectful & considerate of Cynthia’s feelings," a fan wrote to X.
"Why would they even ask her this? Of course she was gonna dodge the question, she’s not gonna throw Cynthia under the bus, no matter how she actually feels about the memes," another fan posted.
Additionally, others came to the defense of Erivo, citing that Black women face higher levels of harassment and ridicule online.
"People are bullying Cynthia Erivo now and yes, it’s rooted in misogynoir," a fan chimed in. "She said she didn’t like the memes and people are intentionally making memes to humiliate her and disrespect her and they’re even tagging her so she’ll see. They would never treat Ariana this way."
Even a large unofficial "Wicked" update account clocked in on the mess, writing in a post, "Y'all always talk about mental health and how sad it is when something happens to someone, but then continue to bully and harass celebrities on things they’ve already stated make them feel uncomfortable. Y'all are heartless and performative."
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