Cynthia Erivo calms down furious fan outside Dracula in viral clip
Cynthia Erivo has been widely praised for her handling of the upset fan. (Getty)
Cynthia Erivo has been praised for the “gracious” and “patient” way she handled an upset fan at the stage door of her one-woman play, Dracula.
During a recent tense encounter outside London’s Noël Coward Theatre, the 39-year-old Wicked: For Good star managed to calmly cool down a furious fan after they claimed to have been “attacked” while waiting outside the show.
A two-minute video clip circulated on social media shows Cynthia Erivo urging the distressed man to “take a breath”.
Fans of the actress look bemused as she swiftly manages to de-escalate the situation.
“I need you to take a breath. Baby, I need you to take a breath. Just stop,” she says, as the man hurriedly tries to explain that he was pushed to the ground by another man. The full context of the incident isn’t clear from the clip
Erivo asks for the man’s name, which he appears to refuse to give her, before she apologises for what he says he experienced.
“What’s your name? What’s your name? I want to know your name. I’m Cynthia. I want to know who you are,” she says calmly, adding: “I know you’re angry and I’m so sorry.”
Erivo’s apology appears to settle the man slightly, as he responds: “It’s nothing do with you; don’t be sorry. It’s him.”
“I know, and he shouldn’t have,” the Tony Award-winning star continues, as she once again implores the man to “relax” and apologises again. “It’s OK, I’m so sorry,” she says. Some of the clip is inaudible.
The man in the clip appears to apologise for Erivo having to deal with the commotion of fans, telling her it’s “horrible”.
“This is beautiful,” she responds pleasantly. “Everyone’s been so lovely but I can see that you’ve been hurt and I don’t like that.”
The man says that he was not hurt but “was attacked,” which Erivo apologises for again.
He then repeatedly asks how the star deals with the “cameras” as a famous person, before seemingly walking away.
Online, Erivo has been widely praised for how she navigated the intense exchange.
“She is so kind. Like truly,” one fan wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “And she should not have to be. I’m so p***** off that this even happened and she was put in a situation where she has to de-escalate.”
“She has so much grace and restraint it’s insane,” a second agreed. “She deserves SO much better than the world gives her and I’m sick of it.”
“Cynthia’s deescalation skills are top notch,” a third wrote. “She expertly diffused the situation by calmly asking him what his name is and saying she wanted him to tell her so she could know it. She instantly let him know that she saw him for a human. Her soul is so kind and pure. What a saint!”
Others praised her for being “gracious”, “patient” and “kind”, while some lamented the fact she has to “put up with” such behaviour from fans in the first place.
In November, the Wicked actress was praised for swiftly jumping in to protect her co-star Ariana Grande after she was ambushed by a fan at the premiere of the film in Singapore.
She physically put herself between the man, who had jumped the barriers at the premiere, and Grande, protecting her from harm.
Erivo is currently starring in the stage adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula in the West End, where she plays 23 characters and recites a 20,000-word script.
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