Cynthia Erivo defends ‘Wicked’ co-star Ariana Grande against cyberbullying: It’s ‘quite dangerous’

nypost.com:

Cynthia Erivo is standing up for her co-star.The “Wicked” actress, 37, was asked about Ariana Grande’s comments on being bullied online while at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival and didn’t hold back with her response.“I think cyberbullying is quite dangerous, to be honest, because it’s easy to be behind the computer and type words about a person you don’t know anything about,” Erivo said, per Deadline on Friday. “I think that the more we can protect ourselves from that the better.”“The best way to support someone who is going through that is really to be a counterpoint to whatever is coming at that person,” the “Harriet” star continued. “Be the person who tells the positive.

What a person who has never met you [thinks] is never more important than what you think of yourself.”On Thursday, Grande, 31, spoke candidly about how she has tuned out the online criticism over the years to prioritize her own well-being.“I’ve been doing this in front of the public and kind of been a specimen in a petri dish since I was 16 or 17,” the singer said on Thursday’s episode of the “Oui Oui Baguette” web series. “So, I have heard it all.

I’ve heard every version of it of what’s wrong with me. And then you fix it, and then, it’s wrong for different reasons.”Grande added, “It’s something that is uncomfortable no matter what scale you’re experiencing it on.

Even if you go to Thanksgiving dinner and someone’s granny says, ‘Oh, my God, you look skinnier, what happened?’ or ‘You look heavier, what happened?’ That is something that is uncomfortable and horrible no matter where it’s happening.