With The Daily Show back in full swing, Trevor Noah dove head on into the latest internet freakout over Disney’s live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. Considering Halle Bailey was cast over three years ago, you’d figure people would have had enough time to come to peace with a Black actress playing Ariel. But when the the first trailer was revealed at D23 over the weekend, The Little Mermaid became the latest target of racist attacks.
Trevor Noah isn’t having it, as seen at the 4:40 mark above.
During Thursday night’s episode of The Daily Show, the late night host blasted people getting worked up about Bailey playing the classic Disney mermaid. “Really, people, we’re doing this again?” Noah asked after playing a news clip of online comments complaining about the casting.
After joking that the title character in Finding Nemo is Black because the movie is “about a fish who can’t find his dad,” Noah also delivered a sarcastic swipe at the plot of The Little Mermaid.
“Look, stop being ridiculous,” he said. “It’s imaginary. I hope this scandal doesn’t overshadow the rest of the movie. The Little Mermaid is a beautiful story about a young woman changing her core identity to please a man. Let’s not forget about that, people.”
The attacks on The Little Mermaid arrived on the heels of racist backlash against both House of the Dragon and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which recently earned a stern rebuke from Whoopi Goldberg. “Get a job!” The View co-host said last week. “Get a job! Go find yourself, because you are focused on the wrong stuff.”
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
