Cynthia Erivo responds to ‘Wicked’ “cyberbullying” of Ariana Grande: “It’s easy to be behind the computer typing words”

nme.com:

Cynthia Erivo has responded to the “cyberbullying” of her fellow Wicked co-star Ariana Grande, saying “it’s easy to be behind the computer typing words.”Earlier this week, Grande responded to people making comments about her appearance, saying that “no one has the right to say shit”.In a video interview shared on December 5, Grande was asked about how she copes with expected beauty standards for women like her while on the Wicked promotional tour with Erivo.Grande pauses, before Erivo comforts her. “I’ve been kind of doing this in front of the public and kind of been a specimen in a petri dish since I was 16 or 17, so I have heard it all,” she told her interviewer.“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. But that’s everything from – even just the simplest thing – your appearance, you know?”She added: “It’s hard to protect yourself from that noise, and I think that it’s 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?’”Grande explained that such comments can be “uncomfortable and horrible,” and she expressed her unhappiness with the “comfortability that people have” to comment on the appearance of others. “I think it’s dangerous for all parties involved.”Now, speaking at the Red Sea Film Festival this week (December 6), Erivo criticised the cyberbullying that her co-star Grande has experienced of late.“Cyberbullying is quite dangerous” she said, adding that it was “easy to be behind the computer typing words about a person you don’t know anything about” (via Variety).She went on to.