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The Reason Why an Actress Found a Fan Edit 'Offensive' Will Make You Lose Brain Cells

Mia Cathell
Mia Cathell  |  October 26, 2024 8:00 AM

The star of the new "Wicked" movie found a fan edit of the flick's promotional poster "offensive" and essentially "erasure" of her.

Cynthia Erivo, who's starring alongside pop singer Ariana Grande in the 2024 on-screen adaption, flipped out over a fan editing the film poster to look more like the famous Broadway musical's original Playbill.

The revised version now has the brim of her hat casting a shadow that covers Erivo's eyes, which were previously staring straight ahead. This was done so that the depiction of her character, "Elphaba" a.k.a. the "Wicked Witch of the West," stylistically matches the illustrated source material.

That's not how Erivo interpreted it — as a faithful homage that has nothing to do with her personally. Instead, she not only took offense to it; she saw it as an affront to her humanity.

"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," an unamused Erivo ranted on Instagram.

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"The original poster is an ILLUSTRATION," Erivo added. "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."

Among the other edits, the graphic designer changed Erivo's lip color from green to red and turned her stoic expression — something of a thousand-yard stare — into a mischievous smile. So, all the fan-made edit did was slap some red lipstick on her, add a smirk, and draw a shadow over her eyes to strike a more "Wicked" look resembling the original illustration.

Of course, Erivo overlooked the fact that "Wicked" has had a cult following dating back farther than her fame.

Even the woke theatre kids are calling her out for acting like an "extremely out-of-touch" diva who's "so f**king full of herself," with some saying, "It's not that serious" and "Sit that dramatic a** down."

Others posted yonic (which I just learned is the female equivalent of "phallic") imagery shaded emerald to mock Erivo's meltdown.

On Reddit, users questioned: "Is she aware that the official poster still exists? Does she not have object permanence?" Several said the poster put out by the movie's producers was "uninspired" anyway.

However, some sided with Erivo and blasted critics for "wanting to tell Black people how to feel."

One commenter, calling the criticism examples of "microaggressions" that "devalue the experience of Black women in the public eye," said that Erivo is a victim of "systemic racism."

The fan further claimed that Erivo, who previously played abolitionist Harriet Tubman in a 2019 biopic, has been told she's not right for the role of "Elphaba," a green-skinned witch, because she's black — a critique "deeply rooted in a history of exclusion and the policing of Black women's presence in spaces traditionally reserved for whiteness."

"The backlash [...] speaks volumes about the pressure women, especially women of color, face when they dare to be in spaces that aren't always welcoming."

The fan who designed the altered poster has since spoken out, saying that there was no ill intent behind the fan art.

"I never meant to cause any harm," wrote X user @midosommar. 

After seeing Erivo's response, the fan initially deleted the rendition "out of respect for Cynthia," then reuploaded it upon deciding that the Hollywood star's reaction was "largely overblown."

Overall, it was a 10-minute edit on Photoshop, the fan said, not meant "malicious[ly] in any way."

A few speculated that this was actually the marketing department's doing: manufacturing controversy as a means of generating attention around the movie.