Cynthia Erivo is being praised for how she actively included British comedian Chris McCausland, who is blind, during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show.
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For reference, both stars appeared on the BBC chat show in November 2024, alongside Nicole Kidman and James Norton, but the clip resurfaced earlier this week in response to the cruel way that Cynthia has been treated on social media lately.
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In case you missed it, last week, a viral video called out how Cynthia is being depicted in comedic videos after she shielded her Wicked: For Good co-star Ariana Grande from an aggressive fan on a red carpet.
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The moment that Cynthia leaped to Ariana’s defense has been distastefully mocked online, with Cynthia being ridiculed, villainized, and masculinized in memes and videos. The viral video noted: “I don’t like it at all. I feel like there’s a lot of underlying tones of racism, misogyny… Why is it always men? Why are you making her very masculine?”
Needless to say, many were quick to agree with the message of this video, with SZA even among those to comment, branding Cynthia’s treatment as “CLASSIC Misogynoir.” It was also noticed that Ariana herself liked the video.
And while all of the online cruelty has been going on, Cynthia’s fans have been trying to rise above the noise with positive posts about Cynthia, including this one about her and Chris.
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If you didn’t know, 48-year-old Chris was born with a hereditary condition called retinitis pigmentosa, which causes the light-sensitive cells of the retina to break down over time. His eyesight gradually worsened throughout his life, and he was registered blind by his 20s. He has said that there is nothing left of any useful sight, and described his current vision as like “looking through a bathroom window in the rain.”
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As all of the celebrities sat on Graham’s sofa for the 2024 interview, Nicole noticed Cynthia’s extremely long, intricately designed nails and expressed her disbelief as she asked: “How do you text with these?” Cynthia explained that she used to have “slightly shorter” nails, but with her current ones, she uses her “fingers” to text.
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“It’s amazing,” Nicole replied. “No, I’m amazed, because I’ve had some nails on, and I can’t do anything.” And while Nicole was speaking, Cynthia realized that Chris couldn’t see what she and Nicole were talking about, and immediately scooched across the couch and leaned over James so that Chris could feel her nails for himself.
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“These are my nails,” she gently told him, and as Chris felt them with his hands, he exclaimed: “Oh my goodness, oh, get out of here! Oh my goodness.”
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Sharing a screen recording of the video to X, a Cynthia fan wrote: “The way she says ‘Chris can’t see,’ and immediately scoots over so he can be included is just who she is always being inclusive to others. Whenever I see positive comments about Cynthia I will always share it with others cause she deserves to see the kind words ppl say about her.”
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The screen recording also included a glimpse at the comments on the original YouTube video of the moment, many of which praised Cynthia for her effort to include Chris in the conversation. One comment that has been liked more than 75,000 times reads: “This is what we mean when we talk about taking the extra step to include others.”
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“Holding them out to feel was a nice thought,” another popular comment adds, while somebody else wrote: “Aww the way she scoots over and lets him feel the nails to better understand what the conversation is actually about is so beautiful and very inclusive of her.”
One more pointed out: “These are the little gestures that show you how genuine a person is. It’s something so small but I promise you there are many people who wouldn’t have scooted over and done that.”
And the people of X echoed the sentiment seen in those comments, with the video instantly racking up thousands of likes, replies, and retweets as other users lauded Cynthia’s gesture and called out how she is treated online.
“i literally love her so much i think she is so sweet and seems so fun to be around and everyone on the internet is fucking awful to her,” one quote-tweet reads, while another adds: “god she’s so lovely, she doesn’t deserve any of the bullshit she’s being put through.”
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You can watch the video below, let me know your thoughts in the comments!
BBC / Via Twitter: @LUVAABXBYTJ
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