'Wicked' star Cynthia Erivo's bizarre response to fans 'holding space' for 'Defying Gravity' leaves everyone baffled

Cynthia Erivo has left fans baffled with her response to a journalist saying that people are "holding space" for the song 'Defying Gravity'.

The 37-year-old actress stars as Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) in the highly anticipated musical movie, which has now been released in theatres.

Cynthia Erivo stars in Wicked. Credit: Lia Toby / Getty

Erivo and Ariana Grande, who plays Glinda the Good Witch, recently sat down with Out.com reporter Tracy E. Gilchrist to promote the movie.

At one point in the interview, the journalist brought up the beloved tune 'Defying Gravity' and how much it means to fans of the musical.

“I’ve seen, this week, people are taking the lyrics of ‘Defying Gravity’ and really holding space with that. And feeling power in that,” she said during part of the interview, which was shared on social media.

The Harriets actress was surprised by the comment and put her hand on her chest. She then responded: “I didn’t know that was happening.”

After Gilchrist reiterated that she’s “seen” fans discuss the song, Erivo added: “That’s really powerful. That’s what I wanted.”

The Grammy-winning star then looked at Grande, 31, who nodded and held her finger. “I didn’t know that was happening,” Erivo continued to share, to which Gilchrist responded: “I’ve seen it on a couple posts. I don’t know how widespread. But I am in queer media, so.”  

“That’s really cool,” Erivo added.

Ariana Grande will star alongside Cynthia Erivo. Credit: Bruce Glikas / Getty

The clip has quickly gone viral on X (formerly Twitter), with people expressing their confusion about the conversation and the interviewer's comment about the song.

One confused person wrote: “I’m completely mesmerized by this clip.. it’s almost like they are speaking a language I don’t understand. I can’t catch the sense of it for a single moment. I’m not understanding the words or the feelings or the energy at all. It’s amazing.”

Another said: "I can’t tell what my favorite part of this video is: the solemnity in announcing people have been ‘holding space’ for the lyrics of a 20-year-old song, Cynthia acting like she personally wrote it, Ariana holding onto Cynthia’s index finger, or the reveal of ‘a couple of posts.'"

"I’ve watched this like 30 times, and I still can’t parse a single thing going on here,” a third added.

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo star in WICKED. Credit: Karwai Tang / Getty

This is not the first time Erivo has made headlines during the Wicked press tour. 

Last month, she responded strongly to a fan who edited the Wicked poster, which showed Elphaba (Erivo) looking directly at the camera, while Glinda (Grande), is whispering in her ear.

Many fans of the Broadway musical were not content with the new poster and felt that it had lost its impact. They decided to flood their social media with photoshopped corrections that more closely resembled the original Broadway illustration.

The edited promotional poster instead raised Grande's hand to cover more of her face and covered up Eviro's eyes entirely.

Cynthia Erivo’s Instagram posts calling fan edits to the ‘Wicked’ poster ‘offensive'. Credit: Instagram Story

The Tony Award-winning actress didn’t hesitate to hit back at fans on her Instagram Story, writing: “This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen... 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," she slammed.

When asked later about her reaction to the poster during an interview with Entertainment Tonight, the star explained that she is “really protective” of her role.

“I’m passionate about it and I know the fans are passionate about it and I think for me it was just like a human moment of wanting to protect little Elphaba, and it was like a human moment,” Erivo concluded.

You can watch Wicked in theaters.

Featured image credit: Lia Toby / Getty