1
Credit: Getty, DisneyTrolls are once again coming for Halle Bailey in The Little Mermaid (2023), and Josh Gad is not having it.
The live-action remake of The Little Mermaid has received plenty of backlash for the missed opportunity of casting a drag queen as Ursula the Sea Witch and for its presence at the 95th Academy Awards. However, the most vocal naysayers have been racistly criticizing the film for casting Halle Bailey as Princess Ariel.
Related: Disney Junior’s ‘Firebuds’ Groundbreaking Character Based On Writer’s Son
In an interview with The Face, Bailey revealed that she always knew this would be an issue.
“As a Black person, you just expect it and it’s not really a shock anymore.”
Bailey also shared the advice she received from Beyonce after she and her sister signed to Parkwood Entertainment: Don’t read the comments.
This advice has been the biggest and most common warning to every artistic person with a web presence. However, that doesn’t mean that people won’t read said comments and stand up for a performer they believe in. And the most recent person to stand by Halle Bailey as Princess Ariel is Disney alum Josh Gad.
Racist ‘The Little Mermaid’ Critics are “Broken” and “Pathetic”
Related: Disney Employee Gives Creepy Warning to Guests Trapped on Ride
Josh Gad, known for his performance as Olaf in Frozen (2013) and Frozen II (2019) and LeFou in the live-action Beauty and the Beast (2017), shared a tweet from Call to Activism claiming that the trailers for The Little Mermaid have amassed over 3 million dislikes total.
Gad was then quick to call out everyone who had been coming for the talented actress, and he wasn’t one to mince words.
“Imagine being so broken and pathetic in life that your chief concern is the skin color of… a make-believe singing mermaid.”
Imagine being so broken and pathetic in life that your chief concern is the skin color of… a make-believe singing mermaid. https://t.co/7F6F8LT2b9
— Josh Gad (@joshgad) March 16, 2023
Rachel Zegler, another Disney star who will play the lead in the live-action Snow White (2024), firmly stands by Halle Bailey. When one Twitter user stated that she was ok but didn’t stand by Bailey as Ariel, Zegler quickly shut him down.
“If you don’t support my girl Halle, who is the perfect Ariel, you don’t support any of us.”
if you don’t support my girl halle, who is the perfect ariel, you don’t support any of us.
— rachel zegler (she/her/hers) (@rachelzegler) September 20, 2022
“Little Girls Just Like Me… Should Be a Princes in Every Single Way.”
Instead of focusing on the hate, Halle Bailey has put all of her attention on the young black girls who see themselves in her.
“I want the little girl in me and the little girls just like me who are watching to know that they’re special and that they should be a princess in every single way,” Bailey told Variety. “There’s no reason that they shouldn’t be. That reassurance was something that I needed.”
Bailey has also relied on family and friends for support, saying that her grandparents told her, “You don’t understand what this is doing for us, for our community, for all the little Black and brown girls who are going to see themselves in you.”
Are you excited for The Little Mermaid to release in May? Let us know in the comments below.