The wait has been long, but we finally got a look at the live-action The Little Mermaid in the form of its first trailer, featuring lead actress Halle Bailey. After initially being the target of racist backlash for her Disney casting, the young star is now getting some major praise for her performance of a classic Little Mermaid song that's featured in the trailer. Unfortunately, on the heels of the trailer drop, some of her Twitter-using fans are going as far to drag the original Ariel actress.
Given the backlash that stemmed from her Halle Bailey's casting as Ariel back in 2019, it’s nice to see that she's getting the recognition she deserves. However, I'm not sure many would've thought that the Twitter users giving the young star would criticize Jodi Benson One viral example is the Twitter post below, in which a fan places the two mermaids side-by-side and compares Grammys:
32 Grammys 0 Grammys pic.twitter.com/ETTHHgLBsUSeptember 10, 2022
However, the information in the post is wildly exaggerated and just plain inaccurate. Chloe x Halle alum does, in fact, have 5 Grammy nominations, but she has yet to secure a win. The poster claims Halle has 32 Grammys and that the original Disney film has zero. It’s important to note, though, that while Jodi Benson does not have any of those awards herself, the original film did win one of the coveted awards and was nominated for two others. It may be that the person who posted this has some wishful thinking that Halle will finally secure the trophy after the release of her live-action Disney flick.
One fan of The Little Mermaid did manage to send her compliments to Halle Bailey without downing Jodi Benson. They posted one of the most iconic scenes from the 1989 animated flick and said that they can’t wait to see Bailey recreate it. Check it out below:
i just imagined Halle recreating this and yeah they’re gonna have to sedate me in the theater pic.twitter.com/r8vKeR62xESeptember 10, 2022
While that fan may technically have complimentary thoughts for both Little Mermaid actresses, the same can’t be said for all of the fans responding to the tweet. In fact, fans are going in pretty hard on Jodi Benson for her singing in the shared clip, one fan calling her singing unimpressive in a responding tweet. Here’s what the fan says, exactly:
Halle gone eat this bc why Ariel a little flat
Another Twitter user responded to the same clip of the original Ariel in a similar fashion, putting down Jodi Benson and her voice. Here is what the Twitter user said in their tweet, which was followed by two crying emojis:
that voice actress struggled with those notes
It’s worth noting, though, that for every negative comment about the OG Disney star's work as the original voice of Ariel, there are probably 20 that are complementary to both her and Halle Bailey. In fact, one Twitter user responded to one of the negative comments with an aggressive message of love for both both actresses, calling out those who would put down one actress to uplift the other. Here is what was said in the passionate tweet, exactly:
nah. what we are not going to do is put down the iconic jodie benson to uplift halle. they are both extraordinarily talented, and jodie is ariel. fuck off.
Despite fans being willing to pick sides when it comes to the two Ariels and bicker amongst themselves, it doesn’t seem to be a competition at all between Halle Bailey and Jodi Benson. Benson has expressed her full support of Bailey, so I'd be shocked if Bailey ever had anything negative to say about her predecessor.
While we won’t be going under the sea with Halle Bailey as Ariel until The Little Mermaid live-action remake opens in theaters on May 26, 2023, there are plenty of upcoming Disney films to look forward to in the meantime.
