Cynthia Erivo’s reaction to critics of her “Jesus Christ Superstar” casting is simply divine.

Asked about the outcry over tapping a queer, Black woman to play the musical’s Messiah, she told Billboard, “Why not? You can’t please everyone.”

“It is legitimately a three-day performance at the Hollywood Bowl where I get to sing my face off,” the “Wicked” star added. “So hopefully they will come and realize, ‘Oh, it’s a musical, the gayest place on Earth.’”

The campy Andrew Lloyd Webber rock opera has been called blasphemous since it debuted as a concept album in 1970.

Cynthia Erivo, here at the 2025 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in March, laughed off criticism of her "Jesus Christ Superstar" casting in a new interview with Billboard. Neilson Barnard / Getty Images

Infused with modern references and a subversive, secular attitude, many religious groups condemned the show for depicting Jesus as a flawed hero, painting Judas too sympathetically and for implying a romance between the son of God and his follower, Mary Magdalene.

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After Erivo’s controversial casting was announced in February, “Jesus Christ Superstar” lyricist Tim Rice said he was eager to see how the Broadway classic can be reimagined.

“I think a piece that is established, there’s no reason it can’t be done in lots of forms,” he told British outlet LBC earlier this year. “I think Cynthia, who is one of the best singers on the planet, will do a great version.”

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