The racist reaction that Disney’s Little Mermaid remake got when Halle announced Bailey as the lead actor returned with the first trailer.
For many people the first images of Disney’s live-action remake of The little Mermaid was enough to sell the upcoming movie and its lead role Halle Bailey in the role of Ariel. However, following the initial reaction to Bailey’s casting in the title role, the film’s teaser trailer has been bombarded with dislikes and racist comments about YouTube since it fell on the weekend.
The little Mermaid will follow in the footsteps of Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and The lionking in reimagining one of Disney’s greatest hits from the late 80s/early 90s renaissance in a live-action setting. While the film has had some delays, the first official footage was finally revealed at D23 Expo and then online for everyone to see and hear Bailey’s Ariel in action. While the trailer saw a huge number of views in its first few days, it also saw a veritable tsunami of negativity going back to Bailey’s original announcement in the film.
Although the dislike figure is not available on the YouTube page itself, it is estimated through a Chrome extension that the total number of dislikes is around 1.5 million and growing. This is based on a number of factors and analysis, so it’s just an estimate, just one look at the comments section of the video and it’s hard to believe that number is pretty accurate. Despite the plethora of overtly racist comments about Bailey’s appearance in the footage, those who support the casting have done their best to counter the hatred with memes and backlashes designed to silence the haters.
Rachel Zegler got a similar reaction for her Snow White casting
The type of clearance seen on the back of The little MermaidUnfortunately, the first trailer is not a unique or one-time event. Another upcoming Disney remake, Snowwhite and the Seven Dwarfsalso seems to be targeting a similar wave of racially charged comments for the casting of West Side Story star Rachel Zegler in the lead role. When Zegler was first announced as the role of Snow White, the internet was flooded with complaints about the rising star being cast in the role, and that will likely elicit the same kind of reaction as The little Mermaid when the first trailer will be made available online.
Unfortunately, casting black and Asian actors in any role often triggers a spate of comments from online trolls seemingly made to get a response, and they are very rarely disappointed by the number of arguments they raise. This year there have been huge amounts of derogatory comments about stars of The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power, House of the Dragon and Obi Wan Kenobi, and although the cast and crew of these shows, along with the majority of the fans, have tried to antagonize and scream at the haters, it turns out to be a mountain that is becoming more and more insurmountable.