Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, the stars of the new film “Wicked,” did an interview with journalist Tracy E. Gilchrist from Out magazine that’s been making the rounds on X. As of Friday morning, the clip has more than 22 million views.
In the clip, Gilchrist tells Erivo, “I’ve seen this week people are taking the lyrics of ‘Defying Gravity’ and really holding space with that, and feeling power in that.”
Despite the fact that the statement seems to make no sense, Eviro appears to be deeply moved and replies, “I didn’t know that was happening … that’s really powerful. That’s what I wanted.”
“I didn’t know that was happening,” Eviro repeats as Grande grabs her hand and strokes her fingers, making affirmative noises. “It’s really cool.”
“I’ve seen it on a couple posts, I don’t know how widespread,” Gilchrist clarifies. “But you know, I am in queer media, that’s my – you know.”
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Commenters were confused by what the journalist was saying and questioned whether the stars of “Wicked” understood.
“Can someone explain to me wtf is going on here,” one popular response says.
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“If I was going to sound inauthentic as possible, this is what I’d sound like,” another reply said.
“Let’s be honest… this is insufferable,” a third agreed.
“Wicked” premieres nationwide on Friday and is doing well at the box office, with more than $19 million in previews. It’s expected to perform strongly through the weekend and the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. The musical, which is being released in two parts, is based on the long-running Broadway musical of the same name.
There’s been a lot of time and money spent on advertising, but those efforts haven’t been without controversy. For one thing, fans have questioned why Grande and Erivo cry so often during joint interviews. “We can’t help it, we get very emotional about it,” Erivo said of their overly emotional responses.
Also, earlier this month, the toy company Mattel was forced to apologize when packaging for its “Wicked” themed toys directed customers to an explicit pornography site.
The doll collection was removed from the shelves at Target and other major retailers because the boxes were printed with the address of the website wicked.com, which features graphic adult content, instead of the correct address, wickedmovie.com.
Erivo also had a meltdown in October when a fan-edited movie poster made to more closely resemble the Broadway version started circulating online. The actress was upset that in the new version, her eyes were obscured by her witch hat.
“This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen,” Erivo said in part. “None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us.”
“The original poster is an Illustration,” she continued. “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. 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 star later apologized for her reaction, saying it was a “human moment” and that she probably should have called her friends instead.
