In the lead up to the release of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, the casting choice for the main character of Ariel received a lot of backlash online. While the character in the original film was portrayed as white, the new actress to portray her is an up and coming black actress named Halle Bailey.

The 23-year-old actress started as a singer alongside her sister Chloe, and the pair even won a handful of Grammys. Halle Bailey’s had a few parts in movies before now, but she stars as Ariel in her first huge role. Unfortunately, she’s receiving a lot of direct hate over the choice to change the characters race.

This isn’t the first time something like this has happened in the film industry. On Broadway in 1974, there was a retelling of The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz released that took inspiration from African American culture, blending it together with the classic and beloved story. The star of the play, Stephanie Mills, spoke out about backlash she received for the role that, much like Bailey, was based on swapping the race of a once white character to a black character.

“I got so much hate mail, I was told Judy Garland ‘is turning over in her grave.’ All because a little Black girl was playing a role, that was once played by a white girl,’ said Mills according to Deadline. Mills went on to add, “it’s sad to see the same thing is happening to this beautiful, talented, smart and intelligent actress.”

She wrote personally to the 23-year-old Bailey where she said a pleasant slew of things to lift Bailey up and encourage her, such as how she was proud of her. Mills made a Twitter post about reaching out to her, which will be linked below. The Little Mermaid is now playing in theaters, and stars Halle Bailey, Javier Bardem, and Melissa McCarthy.

A letter I wrote to the beautiful and talented @HalleBailey who is starring in the @Disney movie #THELITTLEMERMAID. I touch on the similarities I experienced as a young black girl playing Dorothy 50 years ago in #TheWiz on Broadway. So happy for her. #BlackGirlMagic👏🏾👏🏾💐💐 pic.twitter.com/NHWoraHK9l

— Stephanie Mills (@PrettyMill1) May 28, 2023