Two days ago Disney Studios announced that they would be casting 19-year-old singer and actor Halle Bailey of the group Halle x Chloë as Ariel in the live-action version of their 1989 animated classic The Little Mermaid. While the announcement was met with plenty of excitement it did not fail to create a backlash from those who felt the differences between the animated character of Ariel and Halle were “glaring.” All over social media were posts tagged with the hashtag #NotMyAriel with comments about how they disagreed with Disney’s choice to cast Bailey as Ariel.

Across the web has been filled with people creating movie posters with characters that “contradict” their main castings. Like this one, for example, casting an obviously bald Okoyè from Black Panther as Rapunzel.

Others are so upset they are going as far as to say that they will boycott the movie if it isn’t re-casted. While these memes are hilarious, is the underlying message funny or disrespectful?

On the flip side, there are also many people who are elated with Baliey’s new gig. Most people cited the fact that there is not much representation for people of color in the world of Disney as far as princesses go.

Many people pointed out Halle’s pure talent and left race out of the argument like in this video ?? of Halle singing Unforgettable by Nat King Cole.

Others showed their excitement by sharing fan art across social media.

Bailey was signed by Beyonce after she and her sister Chloë were discovered singing covers in 2016 on YouTube by the Queen Bey herself.

Since then they have had many successes and made their rounds on various TV shows as well as performing across the globe, singing America the Beautiful at the 2019 Super Bowl, and securing the roles of Jazz (Chloe) and Sky (Halle).

Surprising History.

The Little Mermaid was not created by Disney. The story was actually written by Danish author Hans Christian Anderson, published in 1837 about a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity as a mermaid to gain a human soul. The original story is actually pretty dark filled with pain, suffering, blood and ended with the young mermaid being turned down by the prince and dissolving into sea foam.

At the end of the day, is it really that big of a deal for a black actress or even a white actress to play that of another race? Share your thoughts in the comments.