After the racially charged backlash for the new The Little Mermaid, Melissa McCarthy advises The Little Mermaid star and singer Halle Bailey to advocate for herself. Unfortunately, McCarthy learned to do this the hard way after experiencing a toxic work environment on set. 

McCarthy says one person she worked for made the environment so volatile and hostile. She remembers feeling physically ill from working in this environment. She says, “My eyes were swelling up, I was absorbing all of this nuttiness.”

It was not just McCarthy that felt this way. “There were people weeping, visibly so upset by this one person. And I think that’s why the manipulation worked, because to get to me, this person would fire people I loved, which kept me quiet. It was very effective.”

It eventually came to a point where McCarthy could not take it anymore and decided to end the intense work environment. Now McCarthy and her husband, Ben Falcone, use this experience to run their company, On the Day Productions. The couple emphasizes kindness in their production company, where everyone gets their opinion heard. 

When McCarthy told Bailey to advocate for herself, she said it was cool to see someone so comfortable in their skin and speaking up for themselves. McCarthy adds, “I hate any kind of injustice, and people attacking someone for just trying to be who they truly are. What does it matter to them? Do no harm, be kind- if everyone just followed those two rules, we’d be fine.”