Cynthia Erivo Calls Wicked Fan-Edited Poster “Deeply Hurtful”

Ahead of the much-anticipated release of Wicked on Nov. 22, actor Cynthia Erivo is sharing her frustrations about a fan-made edit to the film’s poster.

In an Oct. 16 Instagram story, Erivo posted the altered poster, in which her eyes had been covered and her lipstick had been changed from green to red.

“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,” wrote Erivo, who stars as Elphaba in the movie. “None of this is funny/ none of it is cute/ it degrades me/ it degrades us.”

She added that in the original poster for the Broadway musical, from which the movie is adapted, Elphaba’s eyes are covered by her witch’s hat and she has red lips. But that was an illustration, she said, and the movie poster is of real people.

“I am a real life human being, who chose to to look right down the barrel of the camera to you, the viewer ... because, without words we communicate with our eyes,” said the Tony Award-winning actor. “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.”

Fans were split on Erivo’s statement. One person commented under the fan club’s post, “i don’t understand why she’s triggered by this help,” and another added, “yall saying its ‘not that serious’ but imagine having the entire world making a meme sexualizing you.”

On Oct. 16, Bustle reached out to the fan account for comment. “My intention in posting that photo was totally the opposite of what was ultimately conveyed,” they responded via email the next day. “We all actually love the cover that Wicked released on social media, but there was also some controversy, ‘cause 20 years ago the cover of the musical on Broadway showed Elphaba’s hat covering her eyes, so I wanted to share an edition that I found very creative and satisfying. ... My intention was not to hurt Cynthia, and I would like to apologize for the message that I may have sent her in the wrong way.”