Despite rumors of a huge pay gap between the two leading stars of Wicked, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are said to have been paid equally, Daily Mail reports.
According to the report by Daily Mail, amid viral rumors that Erivo, 37, was paid $1 million while Grande, 31, was given a whopping $15 million, a spokesperson has now denied that claim.
The rumored salaries of each Wicked cast member had gone viral on social media.
‘Reports of pay disparity between Cynthia and Ariana are completely false and based on internet fodder,’ a spokesperson for Universal said in a statement via Variety.
The statement added: ‘The women received equal pay for their work on ‘Wicked.’
However, it is still unclear exactly what salary they were both paid.
The initial rumor had shocked fans because Erivo, who plays Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, is more of a lead role while Grande is in a supporting role as Glinda the Good Witch.
Further unsubstantiated rumors had suggested that Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum, who play Madame Morrible and the Wizard, respectively, reportedly earned $2 million each.
As for the rest of the main cast members, the viral list alleged that Jonathan Bailey, also known for playing Prince Fiyero, is reportedly earning just under half a million.
His rumored pay is $450,000 while Ethan Slater, who plays Boq and met his now-girlfriend Grande while working on the movie, is reportedly earning $350,000.
Marissa Bode and Bowen Yang’s reported salaries are $250,000 each, per the rumored list.
In response to the rumored leaked list, fans are sharing their thoughts and there appears to be a general consensus in reaction to the rumored list.
One particular tweet on X has garnered over 11 million views and has received nearly 120,000 likes.
The tweet read: ‘Ariana getting paid over $10M more than Cynthia doesn’t sit right with me…’
‘It’s not making sense,’ another commentator wrote.
Yet another person called the rumored salary gap ‘diabolical.’ Someone else deemed it ‘unfair.’
However, there were those who defended the rumored gap saying Ariana was objectively the more famous star, writing, ‘Actors salary aren’t based on talent but in people who will come to see the movie because of them.’
In response, one X user tried to clear up the allegations with another rumored report. ‘So to clear this up, Ariana allegedly split her 15 million with Cynthia so Cynthia would get more than her 2 million [sic] pay,’ the X user tweeted.
Additionally, Jon is notorious for rewarding his actors/actresses if a film does well,’ they wrote while referring to director Jon M. Chu. ‘So they might both receive extra pay depending on how big Wicked goes.’
Meanwhile, there were also a slew of Wicked fans sharing the opinion that Grande was already expected to earn more than Erivo as she would bring in more viewers with her massive fanbase.
‘Y’all always kill me when discussing this topic,’ another X user tweeted. ‘Why on Earth would they get the same??? They do not bring the same amount of people to the theatre…’
The rumored salary numbers come after it was revealed that Wicked grossed around $114 million in the U.S. box office in its first weekend of release — which is the biggest debut for a musical adaptation in history.
As for the budget, Wicked topped out at about $300 million with each of the two parts average a budget of $150 million dollars, according to a Variety report.