*exasperated sigh* So…in case you hadn’t heard, a couple weeks ago Disney cast Halle Bailey as Arial in their live action remake of The Little Mermaid, and it appears that they’re adamant that you know she’s black.
According to the following headlines, MAGA world is up in arms about the Arial, leading the charge against her with the #NotMyArial:
People Magazine: Freeform Claps Back at Critics of Halle Bailey’s Little Mermaid Casting in Scathing Open Letter
The Root: #NotMyAriel: White Twitter Is Big Mad About Disney Casting a Black Little Mermaid
Independent: Donald Glover shares advice for Ariel actress Halle Bailey after casting backlash
If you go through all these articles, they share the same handful of tweets saying how “they hate black Arial, etc. etc.”
What these accounts typically have in common is their severe lack of followers (probably because many of them anonymous), a severe lack of tweets and a severe lack of time existing as an account! Not to mention, there’s barely any of these tweets using #NotMyArial in the first place!
Look, I’m not one to go deep intro conspiracies, (Yes, I am…shhh) but this one seems to follow the same path as the other recent Disney diversity efforts.
Step 1: Announces new film or remake with a minority lead
Step 2: Parade of headlines shocked at the “controversy” behind each pick
Step 3: Deep dive into the depths of Twitter to prove their point of a controversy, most of whom are, not surprisingly, fake accounts
Step 4: The drummed-up controversy brings everyone to the theaters and the movie makes a billion dollars
TAKE THAT RACISTS!
Matt Walsh put it best though:
[A black actress is cast as Little Mermaid]
Everyone: “oh ok”
Heroes on Twitter: “what’s the matter racists?? Outraged about diversity again???”
Everyone: “no it’s fine”
Heroes: “you stupid bigots!”
Everyone: “what?”
Heroes: “WHY ARE YOU SO OUTRAGED??”
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) July 4, 2019
