The internet is ablaze. At the 2025 Oscars, Cynthia Erivo did not receive the Academy Award for Best Actress. And while the night’s winner, Anora‘s Mikey Madison, certainly deserved her flowers, the internet is in their feels over Erivo’s second Oscars loss — specifically because it still keeps her one award short of EGOT status.
If you’re wondering what that means, EGOT status is achieved when a performer wins an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony — the four biggest awards in TV, music, film, and theater. It’s one of the rarest and most prestigious accomplishments in show business, with only 21 artists ever reaching this milestone.
An Emmy, Grammy, and Tony are nothing to scoff at, though. Erivo’s award shelf started growing after her breakout role as Celie in the 2015 Broadway revival of The Color Purple, which earned her the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 2016. That same year, she won a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for the show’s cast recording. Then, in 2017, she completed the third step toward EGOT by winning a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Musical Performance in a Daytime Program for her moving rendition of The Color Purple’s song “Can’t Let Go” on The Today Show.
However, there’s no denying the cultural impact of Erivo’s performance as Elphaba in Wicked. So, following Erivo’s loss, fans took to X (formerly Twitter) to share their shock and sadness about the Oscars outcome.
the academy voters just robbed cynthia erivo of obtaining egot pic.twitter.com/sCUsCRQIIV
— via (@isabelsconnie) March 3, 2025
CYNTHIA ERIVO DESERVED TO GET HER OSCAR AND EGOT TODAY WHAT THE FAAAACK #Oscars2025 pic.twitter.com/hjROzZYCtN
— L✍︎︎ (@zourryluvr_) March 3, 2025
don’t worry cynthia you’ll be a egot winner this time next year i’ll make sure of it pic.twitter.com/koTFinINJa
— jord (@EMJAYWATS0N) March 3, 2025
done robbed my girl of her EGOT… now if lakers lose, im crashing out 🤣 dis tew much.
— honey. (@HoneyMfnBee) March 3, 2025
cynthia you WILL egot before it’s all said and done #TRUST
— rach ❄️ (@tiffzidan) March 3, 2025
Sigh. Universe…. Cynthia better get nominated again for wicked: for good and let this woman get the damn EGOT title next year 😭😭😭😭
— Michelle ✨ (@m__ayala) March 3, 2025
wicked winning like nothing makes me so friggen sad….like Cynthia almost won EGOT status!!!
— 𝘬𝘪𝘬𝘪 💞 (@kikisflowershop) March 3, 2025
Here’s to hoping Erivo gets her EGOT next year for Wicked: Part 2!