The ‘Wicked’ Pay Gap Fake News Debunked: Behind the Curtain About What Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo Made

The movie “Wicked” is breaking box office records, and a sequel is already planned. Fake news reports went viral that Ariana Grande, who plays Glinda, earned 15 times more than her co-star Cynthia Erivo, who plays Elphaba, protagonist in the 1995 novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire.

Here’s How The News Spread

Turns out the information was false, stemming from a Showbiz Galore article from February listing salaries for the film. But other media outlets regurgitated the information as the film hit theaters last weekend. And Universal Pictures was compelled to make it known that the two actors received equal pay.

The pay gap between Black actors and their white counterparts was a major debate after Taraji P. Henson cried over the issue during media interview for “The Color Purple” last December. The issues was debated over its merit and several Black actresses, from Jada Pinkett Smith to Gabrielle Union, claimed to have been victims of unfair pay in Hollywood.

With this in mind, Universal seemed to left with no choice but to publicly address the Erivo-Grande pay issue as it could have caused major blowback by moviegoers.

The Hollywood Reporter reported it received a statement from an unnamed Universal spokesperson, who has confirmed Grande and Erivo were paid the same for their roles in “Wicked.” The spokesperson called the rumor “internet fodder.” The Universal spokesperson said, “Reports of pay disparity between Cynthia and Ariana are completely false and based on internet fodder. The women received equal pay for their work on ‘Wicked.‘”

The movie has grossed over $114 million. The film had an estimated production budget of $145 million to $150 million, making this musical fantasy one of the more expensive projects in recent years.

Erivo is a trained theater actress who studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London with her breakthrough role was portraying Celie in the Broadway revival of “The Color Purple” from 2015 to 2017.

Her past performances earned her several prestigious awards: a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album, and a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Musical Performance.

The controversy arose when many believed that despite her accolades she earned a fraction of what Grande received.

“Wicked” has broken the record for the highest-grossing opening for a movie based on a Broadway play, surpassing the previous record held by “Les Misérables,” which earned $103 million globally during its opening weekend in 2012, according to Out.

As of now, “Wicked” is the third highest-grossing movie of 2024, following “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Inside Out 2.” In comparison, it outperformed recently released “Gladiator II,” which earned approximately $55.5 million domestically, Broadway News reported.

Additional reporting by Ann Brown