Unfortunately, as if right on cue, the racist backlash to Yara Shahidi portraying Tinkerbell in the upcoming Peter Pan and Wendy has started to roll in.
Several Twitter users took to the social media platform to express their disgust and disappointment.
One Twitter user wrote, “Black Tinkerbell. Black Little Mermaid. Black Cinderella. Brown Snow White. The blackwashing of White culture continues.”
Another chimed in saying, “What’s the point of race-swapping Tinkerbell?”
One popular tweet said that “blackwashing” white characters has become an “epidemic and that Inferior writers are bastardizing the work of others to inject meaningless “diversity” just for the sake of virtue signaling.”
Two users tried to bring sense into the conversation by asking exactly, “What is white culture?” and “How are Disney movies “white culture”?!? They are not real.”
However, their sense of reason was immediately smacked down by a sea of comments and discussion that all stated even more negative things about the Shahidi casting.
One comment in particular didn’t take issue with Shahidi portraying the role as a Black woman but, it took issue with Disney not taking on enough projects that are unique for people of color.
“Disney couldn’t care less about making new stories with Poc characters, they just put poc ppl to play white characters, and that shows 1) how lazy Disney is 2) how racist this is, it’s like they don’t think poc ppl deserve their own stories (beside like 3 animated movies?).”
Halle Bailey is definitely familiar with what Shahidi is now going through. As the new Ariel, in the upcoming The Little Mermaid, Bailey too received her fair share of racist backlash.
The 22-year-old singer/actress told The Face in a recent interview that, you just come to expect it.
“As a Black person, you just expect it and it’s not really a shock anymore,” Bailey said in her interview. ”When [Chlöe and I] first signed to Parkwood, [Beyoncé] was always like: ’I never read my comments. Don’t ever read the comments.’ Honestly, when the teaser came out, I was at the D23 Expo and I was so happy. I didn’t see any of the negativity.”
She continued, “I know people are like: ’It’s not about race.’ But now that I’m her…People don’t understand that when you’re Black there’s this whole other community,” she added. “It’s so important for us to see ourselves.”
So, just what can Peter Pan and Wendy fans expect to see from the latest version of the Disney classic? Well, according to Deadline, here is the logline of the action.
Peter Pan & Wendy introduces Wendy Darling, a young girl afraid to leave her childhood home behind, who meets Peter Pan, a boy who refuses to grow up. Alongside her brothers and a tiny fairy, Tinker Bell, she travels with Peter to the magical world of Neverland. There, Wendy encounters an evil pirate captain, Captain Hook, and embarks on a thrilling and dangerous adventure that will change her life forever.
In addition to Shahidi, Peter Pan and Wendy will also star Alexander Molony (Peter Pan), Ever Anderson (Wendy), and Jude Law (Captain Hook), among others.
Peter Pan and Wendy is set to premiere April 28, 2023 on Disney+.
Photo Credit(s)/Featured Image: Yara Shahidi Instagram/; Halle Bailey Instagram; Yara Shahidi Instagram/Disney
