Cynthia Erivo took to social media to slam a fan-edited poster for her upcoming film, Wicked. Earlier this month, Warner Brothers released a poster for the film in which nearly the whole face of her character, Elphaba, is visible. But the recent fan edit making the rounds on social media erases her eyes completely, leaving only the lower half of her face visible.
Her response to the edit, which she shared in an Instagram story, reads in part:
“This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen, equal to that awful AI of us fighting, equal to people post the question ‘is your ***** green’ None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us.”
She goes on to explain that while the original is an illustration, she, as a “real life human being” made the conscious decision to “look right down the barrel of the camera” as a means of communicating with her eyes. Then, she concludes by saying that their version of the poster was an homage, not an imitation, and that editing and hiding her eyes is a form of erasure, which she calls ‘deeply hurtful’.
People are not responding well to her claims of erasure. Yes, she was hyperbolic in the words she chose but she is being hyperbolic because she’s hurt by some of the online activity that she’s been seeing recently as the film’s release date approaches. Over on X, people are simply laughing her off, suggesting her feelings are invalid due to problematic tweets from over a decade ago. And, as internet users do, they’ve turned the situation into a meme-frenzy.
But I do think there’s much to be said about the story being told in the responses to all of this, and what those responses say about fan culture, particularly in the comment section of the post Cynthia shared to her stories, where I found three main narratives being expressed. The first, and certainly the most unpopular narrative, was shared by the very few people defending her, telling others that if the person playing the role is offended, her feelings should be respected, a take most people vehemently rejected.
The second narrative emerging in the comment section comes from a cohort of almost all non-Black people who simply cannot understand why Cynthia took offense to this, slamming her as ‘entitled’ and ‘conceited’.
This person below suggests that Cynthia’s response is an indication that ‘Hollywood sucks’:
Then there’s this comment, instructing Cynthia to ‘chill’ because they see ‘nothing wrong or offensive’ with the edit:
And this commenter calls Cynthia ‘deranged’ for having the reaction she did:
And not surprisingly at all, the third narrative is one that suggests this issue can’t possibly be about race. Why? Because Elphaba is green. And while some might think that’s a valid point, it begs the question of why, even when Black people are cast in roles where their Blackness is masked or perhaps just less central to the story being told, is there still a need to change us? To whitewash us? Or to Cynthia’s point, to erase us?
I think the answer to that question also lies in the comment section. People dismissed Cynthia’s feelings, justifying their dismissal because of the following Wicked has. People say the book and musical was around before Cynthia and would be here long after her. All of this suggests an inability in fans that feel this way to separate the artist servicing the character from the actual character. And that poses a problem for artists, who, like Cynthia, want to be seen and treated as a human being outside of the character they are portraying.
Sadly, all of this gives me déjà vu. Because Hollywood fandom has a long history of maintaining this standard that seems to apply exclusively to people of colour who are cast in white roles, or roles historically filled by white actors. We saw this same thing when Halle Bailey was cast as Ariel in The Little Mermaid. I wrote about the backlash that came from the announcement here.
In that piece, I also discussed the suspension of a Twitter user who used AI to replace Halle’s face to reflect a white, redhead Ariel, again, suggesting that the character, in this case, a fictional, mythical, underwater creature, takes precedent over the human being cast to fill the role, which brings us back to Cynthia’s point about the role of AI in all of this. She touched on the offensiveness of this edit being equal to an AI-generated video of her and Ariana Grande throwing hands at each other. Where do we draw the line when it comes to what could easily be described as toxic fandom?
Woven throughout the conversation and debate this has sparked is a discussion about intention. To the credit of the fans, they are absolutely correct in stating that the musical does have a devoted following. So the answer to the question of whether this was done maliciously is likely not. But as we know, when it comes to most things, intent does not negate impact. And how Cynthia is impacted by an edited image she is featured in, a version she had no say in, whether in character or not, is not up for debate, despite the back and forth happening in comment sections and Reddit threads everywhere.
I think there’s actually a great point being made in her calling this out despite it likely not being ill-intended. I think that’s actually the key to what makes her claim and her reaction so powerful. Because she’s making it clear that just because this is your way of expressing your excitement over the upcoming film doesn’t mean you get to have jurisdiction over how she is portrayed. It’s a reclamation of her autonomy, which seems to be easily and more frequently whisked away from actors of colour than others. I can’t tell you the amount of comments I saw that insinuated Cynthia’s frustration over ‘hype’ for the movie was unfounded. Why does that ‘hype’ mean erasure for her and not the same for Ariana, who remained virtually untouched in the edit?
Actors of colour are often expected to just be happy to have a seat at the table, to just be happy to have been cast in a legendary, iconic musical alongside someone like Ariana Grande and the other powerhouses stacking the cast. But Cynthia is refusing the notion that she must comply with fandom in its current state, and that’s a case we’re seeing a lot more celebrities making these days. And if this conversation continues and becomes more well-received by fans, it really has the potential to influence the symbiotic relationship that exists between celebrities and their audiences to one that prioritizes the humanity of artists and not just the fans they entertain.
