Blatantly racist comments and over a million estimated dislikes have been lobbied at the teaser trailer for the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid.
During the 2022 D23 Expo, Disney released the trailer with Halle Bailey as Ariel singing a verse from the original movie's song "Part of Your World." As of this writing, the Chrome extension Return YouTube Dislike -- designed to show viewers an estimation of a video's dislike total after YouTube removed the feature -- places the trailer's dislike count at over 1.5 million. The extension makes an estimation based on the data of its users and does not necessarily reflect the accuracy of the video's actual dislike count. Dislikes aside, the trailer's comment section was also filled with racist outcries from people upset that Disney chose a Black actor to play the iconic character in live action.
.png?q=50&fit=crop&w=750&dpr=1.5)
Some of the comments criticizing the trailer have voiced reasonable concerns, such as the footage's dim lighting and lack of vibrant color. However, many others have attacked Bailey's appearance and disparaged the very concept of a dark-skinned mermaid using openly racist language. In response, Disney fans have tried to drown out these comments with memes and pop culture references, mocking the film's critics. The top comments now ironically attribute famous meme lines like Obi-Wan Kenobi's "It's over, Anakin. I have the high ground!", Hagrid's "You're a wizard, Harry!", and "I don't have friends. I got family," from Fast & Furious' Dom Toretto. The reply section of these comments ranges from others joining in on the joke to more racist backlash.
Influential people from across the industry have taken note of the belligerent criticism surrounding the film and come to Bailey's aid. Original Ariel voice actor Jodi Benson recently praised Bailey for her performance, saying, "Halle, you were absolutely amazing ... I'm SO proud of you and your beautiful performance as Ariel!" Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse producer Chris Miller also joined the legion of fans pointing out the idiocy of the racist comments with biting sarcasm, making fun of the pseudo-science used in many of the critical YouTube comments.
The racist backlash against The Little Mermaid remake is not unique to the movie by any means. High-profile projects with diverse casts such as The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, House of the Dragon and Obi-Wan Kenobi have all recently been targeted by racist trolls. Similar to The Little Mermaid's situation, however, fans and creators alike have jumped to support those suffering from such attacks.
The Little Mermaid is set to premiere in theaters on May 23, 2023.
Source: YouTube