Trevor Noah Rips Racist ‘Little Mermaid’ Criticism | THR News - video Dailymotion

Halle Bailey's performance as Ariel in Disney's forthcoming live-action film was teased in the first trailer, released last week.

Transcript

00:00The Little Mermaid is white, not black.

00:02Really, people? We're doing this again?

00:04Trevor Noah is weighing in on the racist backlash for Disney's live-action version of The Little Mermaid.

00:10During Thursday's episode of The Daily Show, the host showed footage of a news broadcast

00:14focusing on online complaints about the fact that the film stars a black actress, Halle Bailey.

00:19The news footage included the report that the trailer has received 1.5 million dislikes on YouTube.

00:25Once again, a bunch of internet racists are upset that a fictional character is being played by a black person.

00:32And honestly, I don't know what the big deal is. You guys realize that Nemo was black too, right?

00:38He then mocked the news broadcast mention of comments that Bailey looks nothing like the animated Ariel,

00:43who is at the center of the 1989 Oscar-winning animated feature of the same name.

00:48She looks nothing like the... nothing like... they both have the tail, huh? They both have the...

00:52She looks nothing like her. How do I even know that she's a mermaid?

00:55The backlash comes on the heels of cast members from Prime videos The Lord of the Rings, The Rings of Power,

01:01addressing racist reactions to their own projects.

01:04During Disney's D23 event last week, Bailey chatted with a Hollywood reporter about the importance of getting this opportunity.

01:10The fact that I get to kind of represent all of these little young black and brown boys and girls who are to come

01:17is really special to me, because I know that if I had that when I was younger,

01:22it would have changed my whole perspective on life.

01:24The Little Mermaid is set for release May 26th, 2023.

01:29For more on this story, head to THR.com.

01:31And for the latest entertainment news and updates, keep watching The Hollywood Reporter News.