The Daily Show host Trevor Noah is speaking out against the racist backlash stemming from the upcoming The Little Mermaid live action film starring one half of the music group ChloexHalle, Halle Bailey.
For context, ever since Disney revealed a snippet for the film last week, the talented singer has been the subject of online trolling and harassment by people upset that a fictional character is being portrayed by a Black person. (If you’re getting deja vu from this conversation, there’s a reason for that.)
“Once again, a bunch of internet racists are upset that a fictional character is being played by a Black person. This is so ridiculous,” Noah said during Thursday night’s episode per Deadline. “And honestly, I don’t know what the big deal is. You guys realize that Nemo was Black too, right? Yeah! The whole movie was about a fish that can’t find his dad. Calm down! I can say that because my dad left and he was white, so who’s racist now?”
He continued, “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.”
Jokes aside though, I do share in Trevor’s sentiments in hoping that the voice of nameless, racists doesn’t do alot to overshadow the overall impact of this film. In fact, I hope the focus can get off of the small percentage of people who have a problem with Halle donning the role of an iconic Disney Princess and get on the amount of pure joy that it’s bringing to little Black girls all across this country.
I know what it meant for me, as a little girl, to see Brandy Norwood play Cinderella and now a whole new generation of kids will get to see yet another iconic Black princess that’s representative of their innate beauty and regality—and that should be the biggest story of all.