Some of you weren’t listening to Ariana Grande when she took the high harmony in “One Short Day.” She wants to be in this hoi polloi. As such, the rumor that she made $15 million for Wicked while Cynthia Erivo made only $1 million was quickly debunked by a representative from Universal.
“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,” a spokesperson said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
Where did this rumor even come from?, you might be asking. Well, sites that reported on the pay gap linked back to a publication called Showbiz Galore. Let’s see what its intrepid reporting revealed. All punctuation, capitalization, and lack of italics is Showbiz Galore’s:
Wicked is a Hollywood musical fantasy movie, Which is directed by Jon M. Chu. Movie Wicked is produced by Marc Platt and David Stone. Movie star Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum and Jonathan Bailey. This movie is based on the 1995 novel Wicked, which is written by Gregory Maguire. The movie Wicked is released on 27 November 2024 on theatre. Here is the Wicked Cast And Their Salary.
The publication goes on to deliver breathtaking copy such as “Salary of Cynthia Erivo in Wicked is $1 Million” and “Salary of Ariana Grande in Wicked is $15 Million.” So now AI is trying to pit two women against each other? That’s not very “holding space for the lyrics of ‘Defying Gravity’” of the machines.
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