This petition is in response to the Change.org petition to remove Halle Bailey as Ariel in the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid.

Lately there has been a huge uproar against the casting of the talented and beautiful Halle Bailey as the fictional mermaid Ariel of the cartoon soon to be live-action movie The Little Mermaid.

This talented young lady, auditioned and won the part because she was the best one for it. Yet, people in their racist ideologies and biases are petitioning against it because they believe that mermaids, especially Ariel should be White (mainly based of the cartoon depiction). As if Disney doesn’t have more White princesses than those of color, as if having a beautiful and talented Black young woman as Ariel will destroy the childhood you had of always seeing yourself in cartoons, movies, magazines, etc.

It’s 2019 and although there’s plenty of more serious things happening around us other than fighting about the race of a fictional mermaid, I also understand the importance of representation, diversity, speaking up for what’s right and against what is wrong.

I applaud the casting of Halle, she’s a beautiful talented young woman who deserves the support and accolades for this role.  Let’s show that there’s more of us that support her and diversity in casting than those that are against it.

Thanks!