The Original Ariel Backs Halle Bailey’s Casting In ‘The Little Mermaid’, So Suck Shit Racists
"I think that the spirit of a character is what really matters."
In a serious blow to idiotic racists who’ve decided that bitching about a children’s movie on the internet is the best way to distract themselves from the pointlessness of their own existence, the original Ariel has backed the casting of 19-year-old African-American singer-actor Halle Bailey in the upcoming remake of The Little Mermaid.
Jodi Benson, who voiced Ariel in Disney’s animated adaptation of the classic fairy tale back in 1989, was asked last week at Florida Supercon about Bailey’s casting and the racist backlash it inspired. And her response was that of any normal human: obviously it’s fine.
“I think that the spirit of a character is what really matters,” Benson said. “What you bring to the table in a character as far as their heart and their spirit is what really counts.”
“We need to be storytellers,” she continued. “And no matter what we look like on the outside, no matter our race, our nation, the color of our skin, our dialect, whether I’m tall or thin, whether I’m overweight or underweight, or my hair is whatever color, we really need to tell the story.”
No word on where Benson stands on fans wanting to cast Michael Cera as Prince Eric. But honestly, who could possibly be against that?
Feature image via Josh Hallet/Flickr, used under Creative Commons CC BY-SA 2.0