The fan who edited the Wicked poster that Cynthia Erivo referred to as the "most offensive thing" she's ever seen has explained why they deleted the image before later reposting it.
The drama surrounding the upcoming Wicked movie started when a fan decided to edit the official poster to closer depict the original artwork used for the stage musical.
The official movie poster shows Erivo in character as Elphaba looking directly at the camera while Glinda (played by Ariana Grande) is seen whispering in her ear - an obvious homage to the stage show illustration.
However, upon the release of the poster, some fans of the stage show were quick to point out certain key differences. For example, in the original illustration, Elphaba’s eyes are covered by the brim of her hat, her lips are a bright shade of red, and she is can be seen with a cunning smirk on her face.
As a result, one social media user opted to edit the movie poster to more closely resemble the stage show poster.
However, these changes were not received well by Erivo, as the 37-year-old took to her Instagram Stories to criticize the changes.
"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,'" she said in a statement alongside a repost of the image.
She continued: “None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us. 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," the star added.
In response, the fan who originally created the edited poster removed it from their pages... before choosing to once again reshare their edit, along with a statement of their own.
X user @midosommar initially wrote: "Ok so I’ve decided to repost this - the last few days have been wild & have helped me realise that the initial reaction was largely overblown. This is, and always was, an innocent fan edit to pay homage to the original Broadway poster, and there’s nothing wrong with that!"
"While I deleted initially as I felt it was the right thing to do, fan posters have been around for as long as movies have existed," they continued. "I never meant to cause any harm and the poster is just a homage to the original broadway poster, just like the movie’s recreation is."
The X user then stressed that although the actress is "valid in having her feelings on the matter", they have chosen to keep their edit on social media.
"I’m also valid in wanting to keep my version of the poster up as I truly meant no harm with it and just made it as a way to show love for the original. Both can be true," they wrote.
They then stressed: "Also no AI was used" - a response to not only Erivo's comments, but also co-star Ariana Grande's reaction to the controversy.
The 'One Last Time' singer was asked about the edited poster by Variety during the Academy Museum Gala on October 19.
The 31-year-old star replied: "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' chart-topper 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.
The news comes just weeks before Wicked is set to be released on November 22.
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