Another trailer for Disney’s live-action “The Little Mermaid” dropped on Feb. 15, which meant star Halle Bailey had to deal with another round of racist trolls using social media to complain about a Black actor taking on the role of princess Ariel.
It’s hardly the first time Bailey has had to tune out racist backlash. Both her casting announcement in 2019 and the film’s first trailer last year sent trolls into a tizzy online.
“As a Black person, you just expect it and it’s not really a shock anymore. When (Chlöe and I) first signed to Parkwood, (Beyoncé) was always like: I never read my comments. Don’t ever read the comments. Honestly, when the teaser came out, I was at the D23 Expo and I was so happy. I didn’t see any of the negativity.”
Bailey told in a new cover story interview
“I know people are like: ’It’s not about race.’ But now that I’m her…People don’t understand that when you’re Black there’s this whole other community,” she added. “It’s so important for us to see ourselves.”
Bailey has been only focusing on the positive when it comes to the reaction to her “The Little Mermaid” casting.
When racist trolls stormed the internet after the film’s trailer dropped last year, Bailey instead shared supercuts and montages of young Black girls getting emotional while watching the first footage of her as Ariel.
“People have been sending these reactions to me all weekend and I’m truly in awe,” Bailey wrote on Twitter at the time. “This means the world to me.”
BBailey said last year that her family helped her drown out the backlash when the #NotMyAriel hashtag started trending on Twitter.
Bailey’s grandparents shared their own memories with her of the racism and discrimination they faced in their lifetimes.
