The Little Mermaid is one of Disney’s upcoming live-adaptation endeavors. At the 2022 D23 Expo, the first teaser trailer gave the world a glimpse at Halle Bailey’s Ariel. While initial reactions seemed to have been in favor of the talented singer and actress, the toxicity of the Internet trolls soon took over. Many, although, did have valid criticisms to share – in regards to the gloomy, dreary mood of the premise.
Others, however, resorted to racist remarks, with their complaints not having a credible ground. Much like the negative reception which took place during the casting reveal for The Little Mermaid, people have once again voiced resounding disapproval. On the brighter side of things, in defense of Bailey’s role, many Internet celebrities have stepped up – one such name being Lynda Carter.
Lynda Carter Is Against The Trolls And Their Hypocrisy
Lynda Carter, the Miss World USA crown-holder of 1972, also a renowned actress, is best known for her titular role in the 1975 live-action TV series, Wonder Woman. Carter is notably known as the person who came up with the ballerina-twirl transformation for the eminent and fan-favorite DC superheroine. Her idea was so well-received that it was later incorporated into the comics, as well.
Carter also happens to be a strong activist, with a vocal online presence to substantiate the claims. This time around, alluding to the hypocrisy of the trolls towards the Halle Bailey-led The Little Mermaid, the actress took to Twitter. She expressed her unwavering support for the premise by making a sarcastic post.
In essence, she has completely lampooned the people who seemingly appear to have a rampant problem with Bailey’s iteration of Ariel, who, unlike the original 1989 version, happens to be a person of color. Unsurprisingly, this is not something the contemporary media connoisseurs haven’t had a problem with before. Just recently, endeavors like The Sandman, The Rings of Power, Disney’s Percy Jackson, etc. have faced similar, unkind treatment.
Lynda Carter’s Tweet Defended The Little Mermaid
Much like several other celebrities on the Internet, the Wonder Woman star Lynda Carter too spoke in support of Halle Bailey’s latest endeavor. The 71-year-old actress had the following to comment on the matter:
“People are mad that The Little Mermaid is Black? The lady who is also a fish? Who lives under the sea? Whose best friend is a talking crab?”
Further correcting herself, she added on to her original tweet. Check it out:
Such statements allude to how frustrating the outrage seems to be. While the live adaptation’s bleak tone and mood seem to have upset many – and that is understandable – the nitpicking has gone above and beyond and occasionally, crossed many lines. In recent revelations, it was seen that the dislikes on the teaser trailer for The Little Mermaid, when using a Chrome extension, mounted up to 2.1 million dislikes – a disheartening amount in comparison to its 900k+ likes.
The egregious reception is astounding, to say the least. While some continue to make such remarks, others are trying their best to defend Bailey from the barrage of racist trolling she has sadly become a target of. It will soon be seen whether or not a step is taken by Disney to put a stop to the outrageous hate.
The Little Mermaid is set to release on 26 May 2023.
Source: Twitter
