How Ariana Grande Really Feels About Cynthia Erivo’s Response to ‘Wicked’ Fan Edit

Ariana Grande is opening up about her thoughts on *that* fan-edited Wicked poster, days after her costar Cynthia Erivo called out fans for “erasing” her.

ICYMI, the original poster released by Universal, which includes Ariana whispering into Cynthia’s ear, was tweaked by a fan to mimic the original Broadway poster — and lowering Elphaba’s witch hat to cover Cynthia’s eyes.

“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,” Ariana told Variety at the Academy Museum Gala in Los Angeles on Oct. 19. “This is something that is so much bigger than us, and the fans are gonna have fun and make their edits.”

Last week, Cynthia, who plays Elphaba in the upcoming Wicked movie, criticized the fan-edited film poster, calling it “deeply hurtful” and said it “degrades” her by hiding her features.

“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,” the actor and singer wrote, in part, in her Instagram story on Oct. 16. “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,” she added.

Cynthia also noted that the movie’s poster was meant to be an homage to the Broadway show’s iconic poster, not an exact copy. “To edit my face and hide my eyes is to erase me,” she concluded. “And that is just deeply hurtful.”

Ariana Grande on artificial intelligence and the #Wicked poster that Cynthia Erivo criticized: “It’s very complicated, because I find AI so conflicting and troublesome sometimes, but I think it’s such a massive adjustment period…I have so much respect for my sister Cynthia, and I love her so much.”

♬ original sound – Variety – Variety

The Tony winner also shared the unaltered movie poster, which shows her looking straight into the camera, on her Instagram Stories. “Let me put this right here, to remind you and cleanse your palette,” she wrote.

While many fans came to Cynthia’s aid and defended the Wicked stars’ sentiments on social media, others saw the poster as harmless, simply fans trying to recreate the original Wicked Broadway poster.

Later, Ariana was asked by Variety if fan-edited images can sometimes go “too far,” which the Nickelodeon alum agreed.

“I think so. And I have so much respect for my sister, Cynthia, and I love her so much,” she said.

Wicked premieres on Nov. 22, 2024, and Wicked Part Two is slated for a Nov. 26, 2025 release.

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