Universal denies ‘Wicked’ Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo pay gap
Dancing through lies.
The rumor about Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo’s “Wicked” paychecks has been cleared up.
It was reported online that Grande, 31, was paid $15 million to star as Glinda the Good Witch in the two-part movie musical, while Erivo, 37, only got $1 million to play Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West.
However, Universal Pictures denied the alleged $14 million-difference pay gap on Tuesday.
“Reports of pay disparity between Cynthia and Ariana are completely false and based on internet fodder,” a spokesperson for the film studio said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
“The women received equal pay for their work on ‘Wicked,’” they added.
Universal did not reveal how much the pair were paid for the film.
The Post has reached out to reps for Grande and Erivo for comment.
Multiple outlets reported that Grande made more than anyone in the “Wicked” cast — despite having less screen time than Erivo.
Even more surprising were claims that supporting cast members earned bigger paychecks than Erivo for their smaller roles: Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum were rumored to have been paid $2 million each to play Madame Morrible and the Wizard of Oz, respectively.
“Bridgerton” star Jonathan Bailey, meanwhile, was reported to have been paid $450,000 to play love interest Fiyero.
“Wicked” is already a box office smash globally. It has grossed over $162 million worldwide in its first five days of cinemas.
In the US, it scored the biggest box office debut for a musical adaptation in history, with $114 million in its opening weekend.
The Jon M. Chu-directed film had a reported budget of around $150 million.
The sequel, “Wicked Part: Two,” featuring the same cast lineup, hits theaters on November 21, 2025.
Grande and Ervio were cast in the lead roles in 2021 after a long audition process.
“I felt a little bit of the initial nervousness or the sort of preconceived notions about what I might be able to deliver or not deliver, or why I would be wrong or whatever,” Grande said about playing Glinda on the “Sentimental Men” podcast earlier this month.
The Grammy Award winner added that she understood if fans were concerned about her casting because of her pop star background.
“I probably would’ve said the same thing. I probably would’ve said, ‘Why the fuck? Kill me. I’ve waited 20 years for this. Kill me.’ I would’ve said that — as a fan from the outside knowing of only ‘7 Rings,’ probably — I’d say, ‘Well, that’s bullshit.’ So, you know, I get it,” she said.
Erivo, meanwhile, told Variety in a recent interview that, as a Black woman, she always connected to Elphaba’s story of being an outsider.
“I feel like I’ve been given this incredible gift of a character whose raison d’etre is to show that all of your difference is what makes you special,” Erivo explained. “That you can soar above anyone’s expectations, that you can be everything you’re meant to be, and that the search to finding that can be hard, but when it happens, it can be really freeing, really beautiful.”
Chu, 45, has consistently stood by casting Erivo and Grande in the film.
“They read with different people, but at the end of the day it very much was obvious that she was Elphaba and she was Glinda,” he recently told Entertainment Weekly.
“I didn’t know that they would work. I didn’t know if they would like each other,” he added. “I had no idea the actual personalities of that, but I knew that they were right for those roles.”
