Ariana Grande has offered her thoughts on the fan-edited Wicked poster that co-star Cynthia Erivo criticized.
The highly anticipated movie musical, Wicked: Part One, is set to be released next month and it stars Grande, 31, and Erivo, 37, as Glinda and Elphaba respectively. Watch the Wicked trailer below:
Last week, the official poster for the musical, which was directed by Jon M. Chu, was released on social media and it showed Elphaba (Erivo) looking directly at the camera, while Glinda (Grande), is whispering in her ear.
The new poster evoked the original Broadway illustration, however, there were a few tweaks as Elphaba’s eyes were not covered by the brim of her hat and her lips were not a bright shade of red and arranged in a cunning smirk.
Many fans of the stage musical were not content with the movie's version and instead decided to flood their social media with photoshopped corrections that more closely resembled the original illustration.
However, the edits didn’t go down well with Erivo, who took to her Instagram page to issue a scathing attack on fans.
Check out Erivo's reaction below:
The Tony Award winner shared an edited picture from the Instagram account @wickedmexicofans, and slammed: “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 blasted. “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 concluded.
Grande, who is Erivo's co-star in the movie, initially remained quiet, but she has now spoken out, calling the situation "complicated", particularly as it touches on concerns about Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Speaking to Variety at the Academy Museum Gala on Saturday (October 19), the '7 Rings' singer said: "I find AI so conflicting and troublesome sometimes, but I think it’s just kind of such a massive adjustment period."
“This is something that is so much bigger than us, and the fans are gonna have fun and make their edits," she added.
Asked if she thinks fans can go “too far," the 'Thank U Next' vocalist responded: “I think so. And I have so much respect for my sister, Cynthia, and I love her so much."
“It’s just a big adjustment period. It’s so much stimulation about something that’s so much bigger than us," she added.
Wicked is set to be released in theatres on November 22. A second instalment is rumored to follow next year.
Other notable names in the film are Michelle Yeoh who will be taking on the role of Madame Morrible, Jonathan Bailey, who will be playing Fiyero, and Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard.