Cynthia Erivo reflects on her reaction to fan-doctored ‘Wicked’ poster: ‘I probably should have called my friends’
A fan-edited version of the “Wicked” film poster drew ire from star Cynthia Erivo, who called the obscuring of her face "offensive."
It is often said that hindsight is 20/20 — and for Cynthia Erivo, this is proving to be true. During an interview with Entertainment Tonight at the 2024 CFDA Fashion Awards on Monday night, the award-winning actress reflected on her recent objection to the “Wicked” superfan-edited version of the highly anticipated film adaptation’s poster.
“It wasn’t necessarily a clapback. I’m really protective of the role. I’m passionate about it, and I know the fans are passionate about it,” she told the publication. “I think for me, it was just like a human moment of wanting to protect little Elphaba, and it was like a human moment. I probably should have called my friends, but it’s fine.”
Earlier this month, Erivo made headlines for reacting to a fan-doctored version of the official movie poster. Despite its intentions to mirror the illustrated art of the original and much-beloved Broadway musical, Erivo took offense to the fan-created poster, which was edited to hide the star’s eyes.
“This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen,” she wrote on her Instagram Stories at the time. “None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us. The original poster is an ILLUSTRATION. 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.”
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The actress went on to clarify that the film and its official artwork were designed to pay homage, rather than recreate the original playbill.
“To edit my face and hide my eyes is to erase me. And that is just deeply hurtful,” she added.
Following the backlash, the fan who reportedly created the poster Erivo found offensive spoke out on X, clarifying the intentions behind the poster.
“This is, and always was, an innocent fan edit to pay homage to the original Broadway poster, and there’s nothing wrong with that,” they wrote in an X thread, reposting the image. “While I deleted [it] initially as I felt it was the right thing to do, fan posters have been around for as long as movies have existed. I never meant to cause any harm…Also, I will say that Cynthia is valid in having her feelings on the matter, and I’m also valid in wanting to keep my version of the poster up, as I truly meant no harm with it and just made it as a way to show love for the original. Both can be true.”
The first part of the film adaptation of “Wicked” will hit theaters on November 22, with the sequel scheduled to debut sometime next year.
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