Earlier this summer, celebrity couple Halle Bailey and DDG took turns gushing about their relationship. After DDG told DJ Akademiks that the actress-singer “inspires him,” Halle admitted that she’s in love with the rapper from Pontiac, Michigan. DDG even put Halle in his “If I Want You” video, cemented their partnership in the public eye. It seems like they are both really benefitting from it — and in a recent interview, DDG revealed just how much he’s learning from being with the rising star.
Appearing on the Bootleg Kev Podcast, DDG talked about the backlash to Halle’s casting in the live-action remake of Disney’s The Little Mermaid and how it taught him that society isn’t quite as evolved as he believed. “I didn’t know people was this racist – I didn’t know this was a thing,” he says, admitting to being blown away by the racist #NotMyAriel comments that proliferated in the wake of the film’s teaser trailer debuting Halle as the titular character. “I thought this sh*t was gone already, I thought that sh*t was gone! I thought Martin Luther King [Jr.] canceled that sh*t out! This sh*t is crazy, I was like ‘what the f*ck is these n****s talking about?’”
He also deflects some of the criticism away from his girlfriend, saying, “She be laughing it off [but] they be going a little too hard. But I feel like the people is more attacking the character rather than her, personally.” However, in his estimation, all this negative attention won’t stop the film from being a success; “It’s going number one, regardless!” he predicts.
For what it’s worth, fans of the casting have been sharing videos of their children’s reactions to the teaser and it looks like the target audience — you know, children — are all in, even, yes, the redheads, who already had the original animated version to watch for the past 30 years.
You can watch the full interview above.