The Little Mermaid recently has been getting backlash due to the promised representation in drag culture in regards to Ursula’s character. Melissa McCarthy was excited to announce the idea of drag culture being an inspiration for her character when taking on the role: 

There’s a drag queen that lives in me. I’m always right on the verge of going full-time with her… To keep the humor and the sadness and the edginess to Ursula is everything I want in a character — and frankly, everything I want in a drag queen.

Despite the talk of drag culture being prominent in the film and character, fans criticized the lack of representation throughout the entire film. They were upset over the misrepresentation and encouraged studios to hire more queer makeup artists when covering and representing LGBTQIA+ culture such as drag. 

this is https://t.co/577svqdZHQ

— ❄️Denali❄️ (@denalifox) May 17, 2023

The Little Mermaid’s makeup designer Peter Smith King disagrees with this criticism:

I find that very offensive. Why can’t I do as good a job as a queer makeup artist? That’s ridiculous. That’s trying to claim it and that’s fine, if that’s what they wanna do. But don’t put people down because they’re not what they want it to be.

King did later state that when designing Ursula, the ideas were never only drag based: 

We discussed everything. I mean, we both laughed about how much we love drag queens and drag makeup and stuff, it wasn’t based on any drag acts at all.