Universal addresses rumors about Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo’s huge Wicked pay disparity

‘Wicked’ co-stars ‘received equal pay,’ a spokesperson for the production studio said in a statement

Universal Pictures has called reports claiming that Ariana Grande was paid millions more than her Wicked co-star Cynthia Erivo “completely false.”

Following the release of the musical hit in theaters on Friday, November 22, rumors began circulating online that Grande was paid $15 million for her role as Glinda the Good Witch, while Erivo was paid $1 million to play Elphaba the Wicked Witch of the West.

“Reports of pay disparity between Cynthia and Ariana are completely false and based on internet fodder,” a spokesperson for Universal told Variety in a statement on Tuesday (November 26).

The spokesperson didn’t specify the amount the actors received; however, they confirmed: “The women received equal pay for their work on Wicked.”

Director Jon M. Chu’s Wicked, which serves as an origin story for Elphaba, the antagonist prominently featured in The Wizard of Oz, debuted in theaters to the tune of $112 million domestically, easily making it the highest-grossing Broadway adaptation. Into the Woods, which opened to $31 million in 2014, was the previous record holder.

Wicked has been a hit with viewers and critics alike — it currently sits at 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

While The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey found it to be “fun and well acted,” she criticized it for being “aggressively overlit and shot like a TV advert.”

Jon M. Chu has defended the movie’s color-grading, saying: ‘What we wanted to do was immerse people into Oz, to make it a real place’ (© Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.)

It’s “shot and lit like we’re being sold an Airbnb in Mykonos,” she wrote, with her comments joining an overall complaint made by viewers about the movie’s coloring looking “washed out.”

Chu has since defended the movie’s color-grading, telling The Globe and Mail: “I mean, there’s color all over it. I think what we wanted to do was immerse people into Oz, to make it a real place. Because if it was a fake place, if it was a dream in someone’s mind, then the real relationships and the stakes that these two girls are going through wouldn’t feel real.”

In addition to Grande and Erivo, the movie also features Oscar-winning actor Michelle Yeoh, Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey, Broadway star Ethan Slater and Jeff Goldblum.

Grande recently attended a Wicked screening with her 99-year-old grandmother at a theater in her hometown of Boca Raton, Florida. Her grandmother was just 12 years old when the original 1939 Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland, was released.

“Flew to Boca for a day to watch with Nonna at the movie theater I grew up going to every weekend, Cinemark 20 in Boca,” Grande wrote on Instagram, alongside a series of photos, including one which showed her leaning close to her grandmother, Marjorie Grande, while her brother, Frankie Grande, smiled in the background.

Part one of Wicked is out in theaters now, with Part Two scheduled to premiere on November 21, 2025.