‘Snow White’ Actress Defends the ‘Little Mermaid’

Halle Bailey, the actress playing Ariel the little mermaid in the upcoming live-action adaptation of the 1989 film The Little Mermaid, has been receiving a lot of hate for playing “Black Ariel”. Bailey herself has responded to the negative opinions in a surprisingly positive way — but Bailey apparently has another Disney princess in her corner, too: Snow White!

Rachel Zegler, the actress who rose quickly to fame after starring in West Side Story last year, has received her own share of hate from people who have disapproved of her casting as Snow White. Zegler is playing Snow White in the upcoming live-action adaptation of the film, and is starring as the original Disney princess opposite Gal Gadot (the Israeli law-student-turned-actress who is playing the Evil Queen).

Both Zegler and Bailey are active on Youtube (with their own respective Youtube channels) and social media — so when Bailey started being attacked for playing Ariel after the new Disney movie’s teaser trailer was released, Zegler did not hesitate to step in and defend her fellow Disney princess!

Zegler’s defense came in the form of a response to a particularly polarizing Tweet (shown below).

Hey @disney, I actually think that @rachelzegler is a good choice for the role of Snow White because she looks just like her. But @HalleBailey is #NotMyAriel. She can be the Little Mermaid on Broadway if she wishes, but not in a movie. pic.twitter.com/RnrjE24RMq

— Liam Webster (@LiamWeb97294743) September 20, 2022

Twitter user Liam Webster wrote the following: “Hey @disney, I actually think that @rachelzegler is a good choice for the role of Snow White because she looks just like her. But @HalleBailey is #NotMyAriel. She can be the Little Mermaid on Broadway if she wishes, but not in a movie.”

Webster received several hostile comments on his Tweet, and Snow White herself joined in.

if you don’t support my girl halle, who is the perfect ariel, you don’t support any of us.

— rachel zegler (she/her/hers) (@rachelzegler) September 20, 2022

“if you don’t support my girl halle, who is the perfect ariel, you don’t support any of us,” Zegler wrote to Webster. Her response has received plenty of positive praise from fans of both Bailey and Zegler herself.

Are you excited to see both the new live-action version of Ariel and the new live-action version of Snow White onscreen?