MOVIES
Josh Gad calls out racism towards Halle Bailey’s performance in ‘The Little Mermaid’
The actor condemned the racist reaction towards the upcoming live-action remake of ‘The Little Mermaid’ starring Halle Bailey
Disney actor, Josh Gad, has called out the racist reaction to the upcoming ‘The Little Mermaid’ live-action movie starring Halle Bailey, which has been attacked by racists since Bailey was announced as taking on the iconic role of Ariel in 2019.
The actor took to Twitter to call out the racists who have mass disliked the first trailer of the movie released during the Oscars. Gad played Gaston’s sidekick LeFou in the 2017 ‘Beauty and the Beast’ live-action film and voiced Olaf in the ‘Frozen’ franchise.
A mass disliking by racists
“Imagine being so broken and pathetic in life that your chief concern is the skin color of…a make-believe singing mermaid,” Gad tweeted on Thursday.
His tweet was in response to Twitter account CalltoActivism’s tweet that said that ‘The Little Mermaid’ trailer was actively being mass disliked by what it had dubbed as ‘MAGA racists’.
The teaser trailer for the movie, released in September, has since also been subjected to mass disliking. The comments have also been turned off for the teaser.
Director Rob Marshall defends his casting decision
The director of the upcoming film, Rob Marshall, has reiterated that Bailey was cast because she was simply the best person for the role.
“After an extensive search, it was abundantly clear that Halle possesses that rare combination of spirit, heart, youth, innocence, and substance — plus a glorious singing voice — all intrinsic qualities necessary to play this iconic role,” Marshall said in a statement in 2019.
He has defended the decision to cast Bailey as Ariel, the eponymous mermaid.
“We just were looking for the best actor for the role, period. The end,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “We saw everybody and every ethnicity.”
Bailey has also shared her excitement at taking on such a big role.
“The fact that now it’s getting to be played by me, a person who looks like me, woman of color, I’m just like, wow, I’m so grateful what it will do for all the other little Black and brown boys and girls who will see themselves in me,” she said.
“Because I know if I had seen myself when I was younger, I think my whole perspective would’ve changed.”
‘The Little Mermaid’ is set to be released in theaters on Friday, May 26, 2023.