The PR Breakdown with Molly McPherson

291: Top 5 Controversies Surrounding Wicked Movie and Their PR Lesson

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When controversies swirl, smart PR can turn turbulence into triumph. In this episode, dive into how Universal Pictures and the Wicked team transformed five headline-grabbing challenges into opportunities to strengthen the film’s buzz and audience trust.

Scandals, Salaries & Strategy: From love triangles to pay gap rumors, discover how they tackled the drama with finesse.
Tweets, Trends & Two-Part Twists: See how a two-part release and resurfaced tweets were spun into narrative wins.
Crisis Lessons Worth Singing About: Uncover key strategies to engage stakeholders and turn outrage into standing ovations.


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© 2025 The PR Breakdown with Molly McPherson

Molly McPherson:

When it comes to Defying Gravity. The Wicked Movie team and its stars had to navigate something even trickier Defying Controversy to remain popular. Welcome to the PR Breakdown, where I'm here every week to break down the buzziest PR stories making headlines. I'm your host, molly McPherson, and in this episode we're examining how Universal Pictures and the team behind the film Wicked navigated five major controversies surrounding their record-breaking movie adaptation of the popular book Wicked. Now there are more controversies, but I picked the top five.

Molly McPherson:

What makes this take particularly relevant is how it demonstrates modern crisis management in an era where social media can amplify issues within hours, even minutes, that can absolutely derail a major film release. And yes, I'm looking at you. It ends with us the big opening week of the Colleen Hoover movie with Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, but all the bad PR that followed weeks later and still remain today. But back to Wicked. Let's dive into what happens when one of the most anticipated movies of the year faces multiple reputation threats simultaneously. Now the fascinating part isn't just what went wrong. It's how the responses offer good lessons in contemporary crisis management. I'll give you the bottom line up front. Let's call it a spoiler. They were able to clear the fences on all of the crises.

Molly McPherson:

First up, the relationship controversy when news broke about Ariana Grande's relationship with co-star Ethan Slater amid their respective divorces. Ariana Grande, of course, plays the role of Glinda the Good Witch, and Ethan Slater plays the role of Bach. He is a munchkin. Now, this is when Universal Pictures faced their first major test. Slater and Grande met on the set of the Wicked movie. That's when we started getting a lot of buzz. Now, it began filming in December 2022, and it was in 2023 that it was reported that Slater and Ariana Grande began dating. Ariana Grande was married to Dalton Gomez, ethan Slater was married to his high school sweetheart, lily J, and they had a son. The response Instead of engaging with the personal narrative, I think they likely executed a strategic pivot, both from an artist's point of view and the film itself. Take a listen to an interview by Ariana Grande with E Television to get a sense of how strategy mixes with controversy.

Ariana Grande:

Of course there's like an insatiable frustration, inexplicable hellish feeling with watching people misunderstand the people you love.

Speaker 3:

People have crafted their own narratives.

Ariana Grande:

Yeah, the thing is, is that, like we know this about the tabloids and about the media and about like am I crazy, don't we know this?

Molly McPherson:

It was a classic dodge. She did not want to address anything directly, but indirectly she likely did, so they weren't engaging in the controversy the film. On the other hand, the team behind Wicked released behind-the-scenes footage showcasing the professional work environment on the set of Wicked. This demonstrates that personal lives weren't impacting production quality. Everyone was a working professional. Everyone had a goal of working to produce and film and star in a popular movie. Nothing else was going to derail this movie, not even a relationship with a questionable origin story. For communicators, crisis communicators and leaders. This controversy illustrates a fundamental principle that when faced with a personal controversy, if you redirect attention to organizational excellence rather than engaging in the speculation, you can work your way through it. And if you think about the opening week with Wicked, how many stories are there about how Ethan Slater and Ariana Grande got together? Not many. The salary discussion, the alleged $14 million pay gap between the lead, cynthia Erivo, and Ariana Grande, could have spiraled into a broader industry discussion about equity and also between women and women of different races. However, universal came out with a response quickly and here it was crucial because they didn't just deny the claims, they coordinated a unified message from both actresses' teams that emphasized collaboration over competition. Spokesperson stated. Quote 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. This statement came out on November 26, and it was shared by the Hollywood Reporter. Now do we believe the statement? I'm not sure. Ariana Grande is a much bigger star. I would think that she would demand a higher paycheck. Perhaps they were being semi-truthful that maybe Ariana got more upfront. Maybe the pay was equal. Because how do you prove it? There's likely contracts between Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo with Universal stating that there's a non-disparaging clause, that they couldn't even speak about it. In the end, it's going to be a controversy dodged. The lesson here in any salary-related controversy, a swift, coordinated response is going to prevent speculation from damaging the credibility of an organization or a popular movie. I promise I won't sing anymore.

Molly McPherson:

Third Crisis the two-part release announcement. Now this one. You know this was hard to put in there. I don't know if it was really a crisis, so to speak, but there was a lot of buzz centered around the announcement that Wicked would be split into two films. Now, in today's climate of streaming and binge watching, telling an audience that they have to wait for part two could be risky. The backlash was immediate. Fans were questioning whether this was for the artistry or for pure profit motivation. After all, part two is coming out a year from now, same time frame, around Thanksgiving.

Molly McPherson:

Now, what's interesting for the response strategy was how the director, john M Chu, took ownership of the narrative. Think about the last time you heard from a director about any controversy facing a film. Instead of letting the studio handle it, chu wrote a detailed letter that transformed the conversation from hey, they're just doing this for money to this is what artistic integrity looks like. He shared specific examples of musical numbers and emotional moments that would benefit from the extended format. Chu emphasized that making Wicked into two films was a crucial decision. We need to make a choice with this. You cannot make a good one movie or two movies by dancing back and forth. Commit to two movies right now, otherwise we're never making two good movies. End quote. And he further explained that splitting the film was essential to preserve the integrity of the source material. Quote either it's not wicked and you're stripping out all these songs, or you're changing the story so much that it's not going to be the wicked that you want end quote. So, for crisis communicators, what's the lesson? This response demonstrates the power of letting the right spokesperson take the lead. Sometimes it's not about what PR says, it's about who's doing the talking. To use a statement around artistic integrity and to have that statement come from the director. It's going to be a powerful statement and it's one that worked.

Molly McPherson:

Fourth crisis the social media archive issue with Cynthia Erivo's past tweets, of course, cynthia playing the part of Elphaba. Back in 2019, cynthia Erivo had to address the backlash over comments she made during the press run for Harriet, and this was a biopic based on the life of Harriet Tubman. She was starring in the role of Harriet Tubman. Now Erivo, who is British, came under fire for tweets from back in 2013, which appeared to be mocking black Americans, given that Harriet Tubman is a prominent historical figure in American history. If you took American history in school, everyone learned about Harriet Tubman. Some of the backlash came from people feeling that a British actress shouldn't take a role of Harriet Tubman. Also the casting of someone with a somewhat controversial social media presence Through a series of tweets.

Molly McPherson:

There was one particular tweet from Cynthia Erivo that is still trailing her today, where she refers to ghetto American accent. Erivo claimed that those tweets were taken out of context. She said, quote I would say it took a lot of hard work to get to this place, meaning playing Harriet Tubman, and I didn't take it lightly. Erivo said, quote I love this woman and I love black people. Full stop, it would do me no service. It would be like hating myself Rather than deploying the standard that was a long time ago defense.

Molly McPherson:

The narrative that was crafted spoke to the hard work it took for her to get where she needed to be as a black actress. People can understand what she was trying to say. It is difficult enough for any actress, much less a black actress, to get where she is. It's a little bit of reading between the lines. She came right out. When people say full stop, it can be effective.

Molly McPherson:

What Erivo did was turn a potential reputation crisis into a moment that actually reinforced what she stood for. So she didn't just manage the crisis, she made the crisis work for her, and that's not an easy thing to do. However, one could say the tweets resurfaced once again, but it certainly did not bring her down. And the fifth crisis? I'm calling it the theater experience controversy. I added this one into the mix because it involved fans and it had a lot of traction on social media. Amc theaters found themselves in the middle of what I call a fan culture collision. They had to balance safety protocols with fan enthusiasm. The controversy erupted when theaters began turning away fans wearing green face paint, a tradition deeply embedded in Wicked's fan culture.

Speaker 3:

You can imagine what the problem was. Take a listen. Film's release. Some were even filming this frustrating moment and sharing it on TikTok. Amc has strict rules against face paint and singing during the movie, aiming to keep the experience smooth for everyone. Yet star Cynthia Erivo thinks singing along should be welcomed. So what's the verdict? Should you dress up in full character or play it safe with just popcorn?

Molly McPherson:

Social media quickly filled with videos of disappointed fans washing off their makeup in theater bathrooms. Add to this the strict no-sigging policy, complete with a pre-show warning about wailing, and you've got a perfect storm of fan frustration. Instead of digging in their heels, amc and other theaters, along with Universal, collaborated on a solution that would become a masterclass and stakeholder compromise. They announced special interactive screenings starting on December 25th, where fans could fully embrace their inner Elphaba face paint, singing and all. And what makes this response particularly brilliant is how they acknowledge both sides of the debate. They maintain their safety protocols for standard screenings, while creating a dedicated space for the super fans to fully express their enthusiasm. So this wasn't just crisis management, it was opportunity creation. So this demonstrates three crucial crisis communication principles. One, sometimes the best response isn't defending your policy, it's creating alternatives. Two, when facing competing stakeholder needs, look for ways to serve both. And three, turn operational challenges into opportunities for enhanced customer experience.

Molly McPherson:

Let me wrap this up with the biggest takeaway from Wicked's wild ride through crisis management. And here's the thing about managing crisis in 2024. It's not just about putting out fires anymore. The Wicked team showed us that sometimes it's about turning those fires into spotlight moments. They didn't just survive these controversies, they turned them into opportunities to show what the show was made of. Think about it this way they played their responses like a Broadway conductor watching Idina and Kristen on stage as Glenda and Elphaba. They knew exactly when to let the crisis play out, when to jump in with the response and when to change the tune entirely. Every move was timed, but none of it felt staged, and that's the sweet spot in crisis management. But here's the real magic.

Molly McPherson:

Okay, yes, pun absolutely intended there. They never lost sight of what matters the trust in their audience. I think they knew that they were handling an audience of super fans. I liken them to Swifties when there is so much love and passion for a project, they needed to handle the drama with finesse. So, whether it was face paint or handling relationships, each response added another layer to their story instead of trying to erase it.

Molly McPherson:

So here's the big takeaway you don't need to be perfect, you just need to be authentic. You need to be timely. You need to be smart about how you engage with your stakeholders, because it's not avoiding every potential crisis. It's about handling them in ways that makes your audience trust you more, not less. It's standing up to potential backlash. Sometimes, the best crisis response isn't about defying yes, I'm going to say it gravity. Crisis response isn't about define yes, I'm going to say it gravity. It's about staying grounded in your values while finding creative ways to soar above the chaos. And that's this episode of the PR Breakdown. Until next time, keep it strategic and maybe a little bit wicked.

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