Halle Bailey makes an inspiring Ariel in ‘The Little Mermaid’ despite critics

Halle Bailey takes the stage as Ariel in the newest live-action film. But even in 2023, there are still racist critics who claim that the casting wasn’t appropriate for the role.

Despite these horrible remarks, Bailey keeps her head high and blocks out the negative naysayers.

“I don’t really think about the naysayers,” she says. “I just think about the people that are positive and lift me up.”

Many people support the actress, who’s paving the way for a more inclusive Disney representation of BIPOC. Her predecessor is very supportive.

“My goodness, Halle’s interpretation of Ariel is absolutely beautiful,” says Benson, 61, who still voices iterations of Ariel. “The casting has been done so perfectly. It’s about the heart of the character.”

Twitter fans love the new Ariel, commenting on how Halle Bailey leads the way for dark-skinned girls, daring them to dream bigger than ever before.

Bailey added how she thinks her younger self might have felt seeing the original animated version of Ariel depicted as a person of color: “What that would have done for me, how that would have changed my confidence, my belief in myself, everything. Things that seem so small to everyone else, it’s so big to us.”

At the time of the casting, on social media, people even started a petition titled #NotMyAriel to have Disney recast the character with a white actress resembling the redheaded underwater princess from the 1989 animated film.

“I want the little girl in me and the little girls just like me who are watching to know that they’re special, and that they should be a princess in every single way,” Halle said. “There’s no reason that they shouldn’t be. That reassurance was something that I needed.”

‘Little Mermaid’ hits theaters May 26, a classic for the whole family.