After she was cast as Ariel-who was animated as a red-haired, white-skinned mermaid in the original film-she received both praise and racist backlash online, including from some who tweeted the hashtag #NotMyAriel. Key Backgroundīailey, 23, is known for her role in the sitcom Grown-ish and her music career as a member of Chloe x Halle alongside her sister, Chloe Bailey. This doesn’t look like someone teasing her friend, it looks like someone doing animal cruelty,” the user tweeted to 100,000 likes. Another user criticized the animation of a clip of Ariel holding Flounder by his fins: “The problem with the realistic design is that doesn’t look sentient. Another user joked Flounder must have been put on Ozempic, a diabetes medication that has gone viral in recent months for its use as a weight-loss treatment. The procedure has gone viral in recent months as people have speculated which celebrities have gotten the surgery, and it’s become the subject of many internet jokes. Buccal fat removal is a cosmetic procedure in which a surgeon removes fat from a person’s cheek area to give the face a more sculpted look. One Twitter user joked the animators should “give him back his buccal fat,” garnering more than 100,000 likes.

Some users explicitly criticized Flounder’s thinner animation, a far cry from the plump fish he was in the 1989 film. “Yes, this is a crime-we’re just trying to find out which one,” the Southlake, Texas, Department of Public Safety tweeted Wednesday in response to The Little Mermaid’s cast poster reveal for Flounder. Plenty of memes and reactions to Flounder’s new design went viral on social media this week. It’s far from the first time the film has attracted controversy: Bailey, a Black woman, was a victim of racist backlash in response to her casting as Ariel some expressed disappointment that a drag queen was not cast in the role of Ursula, a character based on the drag performer Divine and still other viewers of the 2023 Academy Awards found the onstage promotion of the film to be among the show’s most awkward moments.

Julian mermaid