File those rumors about a troubling salary gap between the stars of Wicked under "totally and completely false," because they've been very officially debunked.
Wicked stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande were paid the same for their work on the adaptation of the hit musical, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which reported that "multiple sources familiar with the situation" had confirmed the equality of the salary situation, in addition to an official statement from Universal formally debunking the rumor.
“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,” a Universal spokesperson told THR, definitively putting the rumors to rest.
Rumors of a significant gap between the Wicked stars' paychecks made the rounds on TikTok and Reddit this week, with users discussing (and thereby spreading) unsubstantiated claims that Grande that was paid $15 million for her work in the film, while Erivo earned $1 million.
Although some news outlets picked up the story, The Cut reports that the rumors traced back to a site called Showbiz Galore, and pointed out that the original report on that website reads as being AI-generated and, well, worthy of healthy skepticism at best.
"All punctuation, capitalization, and lack of italics is Showbiz Galore’s," The Cut noted before sharing the bulk of the "reporting" from the original Showbiz Galore post, which read:
"Wicked is a Hollywood musical fantasy movie, Which is directed by Jon M. Chu. Movie Wicked is produced by Marc Platt and David Stone. Movie star Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum and Jonathan Bailey. This movie is based on the 1995 novel Wicked, which is written by Gregory Maguire. The movie Wicked is released on 27 November 2024 on theatre. Here is the Wicked Cast And Their Salary."
As for the actual pay gap rumors, the Showbiz Galore report includes the following statements (sans any punctuation, let alone details or sourcing): "Salary of Cynthia Erivo in Wicked is $1 Million" and "Salary of Ariana Grande in Wicked is $15 Million."
So, for the record, if you're currently asking yourself, "what is this feeling," the answer would be "complete and total confidence that this rumor about Wicked movie pay gap is one million percent false."
