Cynthia Erivo hits back at critics who claimed she was “degrading” ‘Wicked’ in recent viral clip
Cynthia Erivo has a message for critics who accused her of “degrading the project that put me where I am” when she refused to discuss Wicked in a recent interview.
On June 3rd, the 39-year-old was honoured at Variety’s inaugural Power of Women event in London, alongside Emilia Clarke, Suki Waterhouse, Emma Corrin and Hannah Waddingham.
Throughout the celebratory evening, the five performers reflected on their careers, the importance of community and the causes they champion.
As Erivo took to the stage to accept the honour in an eight-minute address, she touched upon a recent episode of Variety’s YouTube series, Know Their Lines, in which Erivo asked to move on from questions about Wicked as “I love Wicked, but I’ve talked about it… ad nauseam.”
With the clip in mind, she began, “All of a sudden, I am a woman who is degrading the project that put me where I am, and I should be more grateful.”
Though Eviro admitted that some people “have been those who appreciated my candour”, the less-than-kind reaction “made me think about what it actually means to be a powerful woman — what it costs, who gets to embody it fully, and who has to bury a little of themselves so as not to offend.”
This led her to the conclusion, “I think we’ve fallen in love with the concept of the powerful woman, but in reality, we seldom celebrate or raise up a woman when she claims her power, steps into it and uses it.”
She added that society wants “the agreeable version of power, the version that smiles when offended, says nothing when she disagrees, and endures quietly when she doesn’t want to.”
Erivo explained that the choice to resist as a woman “means constantly being misunderstood, often being disliked, being mocked, being insulted, being told to phrase things a little gentler, and be grateful.”
Despite this, the actor, who has just wrapped up a one-woman show of Dracula on the West End, reaffirmed her commitment to continuing to make “the hard choice” while insisting she “is grateful” for her experience filming Wicked.
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