‘The Little Mermaid’ Trailer Receives 1.5 Million ‘Dislikes’ on YouTube

We reported previously that Disney’s first teaser trailer for the live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid,” starring actress/singer Halle Bailey, sparked racist backlash over a Black woman playing a fictional mermaid.

According to Forbes, “The film’s trailer has been flooded with 1.5 million dislikes from angry ‘fans’ – despite YouTube removing the dislike counter, the numbers are still available through an extension.”

The New York Post reports that an artificial intelligence scientist “whitewashed” Bailey in the trailer using AI to make the mermaid a woman white (see Twitter clip below).

“He fixed The Little Mermaid and turned the woke actor into a ginger white girl,” said a promoter who shared the original tweet, according to the report. “He says he can fix the whole move comes out with 4x A6000 in 24 hours. It’s over for wokecels.”

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When Bailey’s casting was initially announced a few years ago, racist Disney fans quickly rejected the first Black Ariel. We reported previously that Facebook even removed a ‘Make America White Again’ group after it shared offensive memes related to Bailey.

Disney-owned Freeform reacted to the critics in 2019 when the company released a statement on Twitter. At the time, haters used the hashtag #NotMyAriel to object to a Black woman portraying a red-headed Danish mermaid. Freeform also noted that Bailey was cast as Ariel because she is “highly talented,” and director Rob Marshall agreed. 

Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel in the 1989 animated film “The Little Mermaid,” also spoke in defense of Bailey during her appearance at Florida Supercon in 2019.  

“The most important thing is to tell the story. And we have, as a family, we have raised our children, and for ourselves, that we don’t see anything that’s different on the outside,” Benson said, reported ComicBook.com.

Bailey previously called her Ariel role a “dream come true.”

‘The Woman King’ Surprises at the Box Office with WIN – Despite Backlash

It’s good to be “The Woman King.” The new Sony Pictures Entertainment film starring Viola Davis as the leader of an all-female set of warriors took the No. 1 spot at the domestic box office this weekend with a surprising $19 million, according to Sony.

The film’s total is somewhat unexpected for a few reasons. For starters, it was projected to bring in closer to $12 million, so it exceeded expectations.

“The Woman King” is also an original and is not based on a previous piece of intellectual property like a sequel or superhero film. In modern-day Hollywood, to take the box office crown without being connected to a prior hit or big franchise is a rare feat.

The action drama, which cost $50 million to make, is exactly the type of success theaters need right now due to a dearth of new films for viewers to choose from.

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Ever since early August, theaters have struggled to get audiences in seats since there’s not been many films. This is due to studios having supply chain issues caused by the pandemic as well as more big films skipping theaters altogether for streaming.

Yet “The Woman King,” which was directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and co-stars Lashana Lynch and John Boyega, took advantage of strong reviews and won the weekend for Sony.

Critics and audiences showered the film with raves, leading to a 95% critics score on review site Rotten Tomatoes and a perfect A+ CinemaScore from ticket buyers.

Brian Lowry, CNN’s media critic, called it a “throwback to the action movies of old while featuring people who were seldom allowed to occupy prominent roles back then.”

“Although ‘inspired by true events,’ ” Lowry noted, the film “clearly isn’t tethered to them, using the underlying story of 19th-century female warriors in an African kingdom as the jumping-off point for a rousing action vehicle augmented by plenty of melodrama. That combination yields a strong showcase for the stars, featuring a cast and backdrop that serves to refresh its old-school formula.”

This could just be the start of a strong run for the film.

With few notable movies coming to theaters until early November, “The Woman King” could continue to find an audience and rack up sales at the ticket booth.

 ⁠  Tamika Mallory: Black Community ‘Poverty’ is Real Culprit in Pnb Rock Fatal Shooting 

*Gun violence has increased in communities of color across the US in the last two years. In 2020 alone, 12,179 Black Americans were shot dead. Many of these tragic shootings had Black Americans aged between 15-34 as causalities, according to a report by “The America Progress Organization.”

The states mostly affected by this gun violence were Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee. They also happen to be the states much affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

L.A. authorities reported that on Monday a suspect pulled a gun and approached rapper PnB Rock while eating lunch with his girlfriend Stephanie Sibounheuang at a Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles in Los Angeles. The suspect demanded the rapper’s “property” before pumping lead into him.

The suspect is yet to be identified by the authorities and is still a fugitive.

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Interestingly, PnB Rock, 30, spoke about being a target days before his death. He also lamented that robbery is on the rise these days and that he usually avoided nightclubs and spaces where he could fall prey to violence.

“It’s so common,” said the Philadelphia-born MC. “I never got robbed. Ever in my life. I ain’t gon’ say never. I don’t like saying ‘never.’ I’m not superstitious, but I haven’t been robbed.”

“I’m not gonna put myself in those situations because I know what happens in those situations,” he added. He also revealed a few “bold” criminals recently attempted to rob him while he was out with his girlfriend and his child.

Following this incident, social justice activist Tamika Mallory came out on September 12 to speak about the rapper’s cruel killing. She says she believes the rapper’s killing was the tragic consequence of poverty and “economic challenges” in the Black community, reports Madamenoire. Indeed, this is a longstanding issue that has only been made worse by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think what happened to this young man being robbed and being killed is unfortunate,” Tamika said. “While some of our government officials are playing games with hyperbole, we need people to deal with economic challenges in the black community. Seriously focus on bringing resources, jobs, education, educational opportunity, and trade opportunities to young people so that they can put down guns, pick up books, pick up resources, and pick up a debit card so that they can use it to feed their families.”

Tamika also listed some other horrific incidents in other cities, such as that involving Young Dolph in Memphis early this year. Young died earlier this year.

“Atlanta has also been unfortunately ground zero. In New York, whether you’re a rapper or not, people are dying every day. Poverty is violence,” Tamika added. “That has to be addressed coming out of a pandemic. People are struggling. We’re doing something to deal with the middle class, but there has to be something done about impacting people that live in marginalized communities. I think that that’s what this is all about, calling out to our government.”

“You’re never gonna stop all violence, but you can certainly bring it down and make people comfortable, so that they know from day to day in inflation, that they can pay for groceries because when I, a person who has resources, goes to the gas station and have to pay $100 to fill up my tank, I know its hurting average RayRay and Keisha, who don’t have the resources to do so,” she added.