Ariana Grande has backed her Wicked co-star Cynthia Erivo after she courted controversy by blasting fans for editing the movie’s poster.
Earlier this week, the British actress took to her Instagram Stories to slam fans who tweaked the film’s promotional image to match Wicked’s original Broadway poster by lowering the brim of her witch character’s hat to cover her eyes.
In addition to the edited poster, Erivo also called out an AI-generated animation that showed her and Grande’s characters fighting.
Defending her co-star following her public statement, Grande told Variety, “I think it’s very complicated because 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.
“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.”
In her original statement, Erivo told fans that editing her face and covering up her eyes was “the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen”.
“None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us,” she continued. “The original poster is an ILLUSTRATION… 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 plays Elphaba alongside Grande as Glinda in the two-part movie adaptation of the popular stage musical.
The first part will be released on 22 November.
