Cynthia Erivo criticises ‘offensive’ edit of ‘Wicked’ poster

British actress Cynthia Erivo has hit out at a fan who digitally altered her image from the Wicked film poster, calling it “offensive” and “deeply hurtful”.

Erivo, who stars as Elphaba (who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West) in the upcoming adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical, can be seen on the poster alongside Ariana Grande, who plays Glinda. Much like in the iconic stage play advertisement, Glinda is whispering to Elphaba. However, instead of smirking with her eyes covered by her black hat, the future wicked witch looks ahead.

One fan took it upon themselves to make the film poster more like the original stage show’s, a move Erivo described as the “wildest, most offensive thing I have seen.”

“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. 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 also called out other Wicked memes that have circulated online, including one that made a crude joke about Elphaba’s anatomy and an AI-generated video of the two actresses fighting.

“This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen, equal to that awful AI of us fighting, equal to people posting the question, ‘is your ***** green.’” None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us.”

Erivo then shared an image of the unaltered film poster, with the caption: “Let me put this right here, to remind you and cleanse your palette.” 

Wicked is directed by Jon M. Chu and is set to be released on 22 November – the same date as Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II. This has led fans to suggest a new Barbenheimer-style double-bill is on the cards, under the name ‘Glicked’.  

Also starring Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum and Bowen Yang, the musical film will be released in two parts – with the second part dropping reportedly on 25 December 2025.