These Celebrities Had the Best Reactions to Halle Bailey’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ Casting
It’s official: Disney has cast actress/singer Halle Bailey as Ariel in the upcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. The internet, as always, provided lots of opinions on the matter, ranging from the racist to the heartwarming. Here are the celebrities who took to social media to congratulate Bailey.
Her Grown-ish co-stars
Until now, Bailey’s best-known acting role has been as Skylar on the Freeform series Grown-ish. Of course, a few of her castmates, including star Yara Shadidi, were quick to congratulate her.
In addition to Shahidi, Francia Raisa, who plays Anna, commented on the post on Bailey’s shared Instagram account with her sister, Chloe. Raisa’s comment was emoji-heavy, featuring four sobbing emojis and five hearts, which she followed with the simple text, “So happy!”
These musicians chimed in
Bailey is also well-known for being half of R&B duo Chloe x Halle. So naturally, plenty of fellow artists took to social media to congratulate her on earning the role.
Jordin Sparks wrote, “OMG I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU! And for all the little brown girls who will now see themselves as Ariel too!” Normani simply posted a series of exclamation points. And Willow Smith’s comment included a rainbow, a star emoji, and the text “CONGRATZ BOO !!”
One artist was noticeably missing
Chloe x Halle kicked off their career by opening for none other than the Queen herself, Beyoncé, on not one, but two of her tours. Sadly, Bey didn’t comment on social media about the news, but then again, that’s not really her style — after all, she doesn’t follow anyone (not even Jay-Z).
But that doesn’t mean that she isn’t happy for her protege. In fact, some are speculating that it’s not a coincidence that Bailey was considered for the role, considering Bey is starring in her own Disney remake this month.
Other actors who were rumored to be up for the role
Apparently, there are people out there who are angry that a white, red-headed girl (or at least, one they’ve seen with red hair) wasn’t cast as Ariel. You know, someone like Sophie Turner (who is naturally blonde)? But if Turner was ever up for the role, she showed no signs of disappointment, simply tweeting “YESSSSSSSSSSS” in response to the news.
The backlash here is very similar to that that came when Zendaya was cast as MJ in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Speaking of Zendaya, her name was in the conversations about The Little Mermaid as well. However, those were likely just rumors.
The Euphoria actress chimed in on both Twitter and Instagram to congratulate Bailey. Her Instagram story was simple perfection in which she shared a photo of Bailey with long, red hair, wearing a shimmery outfit to boot, giving off serious Ariel vibes.
Even more celebs (including one who shares her name)
It seems like everyone was out in support of Bailey. Chrissy Teigen commented on Chloe x Halle’s Instagram post, writing how exciting this news is for her daughter, Luna. “My little toons is gonna see a piece of her in her favorite Disney princess. I cannot wait!!!”
Given the unique spelling of her name, and how similar her last is so another famous Halle, there was definitely a bit of confusion on the internet as to who was actually cast. But Halle Berry took it all in stride, tweeting her own kind message to Bailey.
