Ariana Grande backs up Cynthia Erivo over “troublesome” fan-edited ‘Wicked’ posters

21 October, 2024

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo split image

Ariana Grande has offered support to her Wicked co-star Cynthia Erivo over the actress’ criticism of fan-edited posters and AI content.

Last week, Erivo spoke out about a fan edit of the poster for the upcoming Wicked movie that echoed the original Broadway advert for the musical, while also hitting out at AI-generated videos of her and Grande’s characters fighting each other.

At the time, Erivo wrote on her Instagram Stories about the Wicked posters, “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.”

Speaking to Variety on Saturday (October 19), Grande described the situation as “complicated,” adding, “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.”

When asked whether things can sometimes go “too far,” Grande replied, “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.”

And when Grande was asked if she and Erivo could make original music together in the future, she said, “I love being in the studio with her, even just as like a fly on the wall, hearing what she’s working on and having her there when I’m working. I think we are stuck with each other, professionally and personally for the rest of our lives. So I would say absolutely.”

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo embracing
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo attend the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures 4th Annual Gala in Partnership with Rolex at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on October 19, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. CREDIT: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

Directed by Jon M. Chu, Wicked will premiere at the State Theatre in Sydney, Australia on November 3, and come out in cinemas on November 22.

Erivo plays Elphaba Thropp, a woman with green skin who later becomes The Wizard Of Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West, while Grande plays Galinda Upland, who later becomes Glinda the Good. Also among the cast are Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Ethan Slater and Peter Dinklage.

As the movie is coming out on the same day as Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II, some fans have coined the term ‘Glicked’ to describe the potential double-header, as a sequel to last year’s ‘Barbenheimer’. Wicked had been set for a November 27 release, but it was moved forward to avoid a family movie night clash with Moana 2.

Wicked had been known as Wicked – Part 1, the first movie in a two-parter, but some fans now think it’s been recut into a single film as none of the promotional materials are mentioning the film being a ‘part one’. And, fans familiar with the story have picked up on scenes from later in the show appearing in the trailer.

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