Trevor Noah responds to racist comments about Halle Bailey’s role as The Little Mermaid.
Halle Bailey, who played the lead role in Disney’s live-action remake of the classic movie The Little Mermaid, got a lot of racist comments after she was cast as Ariel. (However, for every person who doesn’t like her, there seems to be someone who loves her and is excited about her casting.) Even though the trailer showed Bailey singing one of the classic movie’s songs beautifully, some original Little Mermaid fans are still upset that Bailey is not the same race as the animated Ariel. Trevor Noah has now responded to the racist backlash, as he usually does, and he didn’t hold back what he thought.
People aren’t happy with Halle Bailey’s casting because she doesn’t look like the animated version of Ariel. She isn’t pale and her hair isn’t bright red like in the cartoon. Trevor Noah made fun of this problem in a segment of The Daily Show. He said:
“She doesn’t look anything like the real one.” Not at all? Both of them have a tail, and their hair is red. “She doesn’t look like her at all, so how do I know she’s a mermaid?”
Trevor Noah doesn’t care what people say about how Halle Bailey doesn’t look like the original Ariel. He thinks that this is a way of saying that she isn’t the best choice for the role because of the color of her skin. Well, the truth is that the former member of Chloe x Halle has given Black girls joy and inspiration, as seen in viral TikToks. This makes sense since many people probably grew up seeing mostly white actors and characters in Disney and other forms of entertainment. She is a great example of how important representation is in shows for kids.
Trevor Noah kept making jokes and making very serious points, but he also said that The Little Mermaid is a story and that Halle Bailey is playing a mermaid. Then, the funny news host took the joke a step further by bringing up a common racist stereotype about how Black families act in Finding Nemo. This shows how silly the criticisms of Bailey’s casting are. Here’s what Noah himself said:
Once again, a group of racists on the internet is upset that a Black person is playing a fictional character. I don’t see what all the fuss is about. You all know that Nemo was also Black, right? Yes, the whole movie was about a fish looking for his father. Calm down, I can say that because my white dad left, so who is now being racist?
If people who didn’t like his joke weren’t already aware of how ridiculous it was, he told them straight up to “stop being ridiculous.” From there, he talked about what he hoped would happen when the movie came out in the spring of 2023. Here is exactly what he says:
Stop being silly, it’s all in your head. I hope this scandal doesn’t make the rest of the movie seem less interesting. Let’s not forget that The Little Mermaid is a beautiful story about a young woman who changes who she is to please a man.
Even though some people didn’t like Halle Bailey’s version of Ariel, there are still a lot of fans who love it. They also mention that Bailey may have better singing skills than most people. In short, these fans can’t wait to see Bailey take on the whole film, and when the 2023 movie comes out on May 26, 2023, there will be a lot of talk about it. Even if people say bad things about Bailey’s The Little Mermaid, it doesn’t look like they will be able to do so because big names in the media like Trevor Noah are pointing them out and fans are showing a lot of support.
