Universal claps back at the online rumour Ariana Grande got paid more for Wicked

Wicked would be nothing without Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo – and both of them hold the film with their star power and talent. Whilst Elphaba is the lead role, Glinda is as integral. Whilst nobody knows the full fee the two got paid for their role in the film – which is already a huge box success and set to make a ton of cash – there have been online rumours of a big pay gap between the two. Universal has spoken out and cleared it up once and for all after the Wicked pay gap rumours kept gaining viral traction online.

The rumours on Reddit, Twitter and TikTok circulating were that Ariana Grande was paid a whopping $15 million for her role as Glinda in Wicked, which was a huge difference to the rumour that Cynthia Erivo got paid only $1 million. Many people were believing it and sharing it, so Universal just spoke out and cleared things up.

In a statement about the Wicked gap to The Hollywood Reporter, a spokesperson for Universal said “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.”

Credit: Universal Pictures/YouTube

It’s a huge relief that this has been cleared up, as the Reddit, Twitter and TikTok rumours have gone crazy with loads of news publications running the story of the rumoured pay gap.

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Wicked became the biggest global and domestic opening for Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, which beat the $12 million for Widows for the latter. It was also the biggest opening ever for a musical feature by Stephen Schwartz, the biggest global and domestic opening for director Jon M Chu and the biggest first day for a movie based on a Broadway musical at $46.4 million.

Together, the two films made up 81 per cent of cinema ticket sales during their respective opening weekends according to Deadline. This would definitely be enough to make Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo tear up.

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