Cynthia Erivo called out a fan-edited "Wicked" poster that she found deeply offensive. 

On Wednesday (Oct. 16), the actress took to her Instagram Story to express her frustration over the alterations to the original image, which erased much of her face. Erivo referred to the poster as "deeply hurtful," likening it to other offensive fan content, including AI-generated images and inappropriate questions she’s received.

“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,'” Erivo wrote. “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," Erivo explained. "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 unedited poster, released by Universal Pictures, features her character Elphaba staring directly into the camera, with Ariana Grande's Glinda whispering in her ear. This version is a tribute to the original Broadway poster but includes key differences, such as Erivo's visible eyes, green lipstick, and a more serious expression. However, in the fan-edited version, her eyes are covered, her lipstick is changed to red, and her expression is altered to a smirk, which Erivo felt diminished her role.

Erivo then reposted the original, unedited poster, stating, “Let me put this right here, to remind you and cleanse your palette." 

“Wicked,” directed by Jon M. Chu, will hit theaters on Nov. 22, 2024. It is the first of a two-part film adaptation of the popular musical. The movie stars Erivo as Elphaba and Grande as Glinda.