Freeform Defends Casting of Halle Bailey as Ariel in Live-Action ‘Little Mermaid’
Written by MaxFM on July 8, 2019
When Disney announced its casting of Chloe x Halle singer Halle Bailey as Ariel in their live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, some internet commenters lashed out against the idea of a black woman in the role.
Some even went so far as to start a petition titled #NotMyAriel to have Disney recast the character with a white actress resembling the red-headed underwater princess from the 1989 animated film.
Fed up with the comments, Disney’s cable network Freeform responded with “An open letter to the Poor, Unfortunate Souls” who found an issue with Bailey’s casting.
“Yes. The original author of The Little Mermaid was Danish. Ariel…is a mermaid. She lives in an underwater kingdom in international waters and can legit swim wherever she wants (even though that often upsets King Triton, absolute zaddy),” the post read. “But for the sake of argument, let’s say that Ariel, too, is Danish.”
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An open letter to the Poor, Unfortunate Souls: ______ #TheLittleMermaid #Ariel #MyAriel
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