There's now a petition for Terry Crews to play King Triton in live-action 'Little Mermaid'

vt-author-image

By VT

Article saved!Article saved!

Darling, everyone knows that it's better, down where it's wetter (under the sea I mean, obviously) - but you know how the ocean could be even more improved? By appointing Terry Crews as king, of course!

The Brooklyn Nine-Nine actor threw his hat into the ring for the role of King Triton in the new Disney live-action remake of The Little Mermaid last weekend.

But now, fans have taken his plea one step further by starting a petition to make it happen.

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/terrycrews/status/1147573565857894402]]

After the 50-year-old tweeted a picture of himself dressed as the underwater ruler, writing "Ariel's Dad!!!! #ArielsGotTerry #AmericasGotTerry," supporters of his cause got to work, with several different petitions popping up on sites like change.org.

None of the petitions have taken off yet, but bearing in mind the fact that Terry's tweet got over 110,000 likes, it could be a matter of time.

One appeal addressed to The Walt Disney Company references the "racist" backlash that came with black actress and singer Halle Bailey's casting as Ariel.

While many fans praised Disney for choosing to cast the African-American singer in the highly-desired role, others expressed anger that Bailey didn't resemble the red-headed, white-skinned cartoon character, with the hashtag #notmyariel trending on Twitter.

Halle Bailey.
[[imagecaption|| Credit: Getty]]

"I don’t know why grown adults care so much about the casting of mermaids," wrote petition creator Gabriel McArthur. "Mermaids are imaginary creatures. I also don’t know why Disney can’t come up with an original idea these days BUT it’s nice to see new representations in familiar stories."

He continued: "Terry Crews is a great actor and I honestly can’t picture anyone else playing King Triton in the live action Little Mermaid. I’m betting you agree. So sign it! You know you wanna."

Disney and Bailey are yet to comment, but Disney network Freeform has written an open letter this week, reminding people that The Little Mermaid story is "a work of fiction", and that the casting of the "highly talented, gorgeous" Bailey is "inspired".

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/FreeformTV/status/1147647797732106240]]

"Danish mermaids can be black because Danish *people* can be black," said the letter, which was posted on the network's social media accounts. "Black Danish people, and this mer-folk, can also *genetically* (!!!) have red hair. But spoiler alert - bring it back to the top - the character of Ariel is a work of fiction."

There's now a petition for Terry Crews to play King Triton in live-action 'Little Mermaid'

vt-author-image

By VT

Article saved!Article saved!

Darling, everyone knows that it's better, down where it's wetter (under the sea I mean, obviously) - but you know how the ocean could be even more improved? By appointing Terry Crews as king, of course!

The Brooklyn Nine-Nine actor threw his hat into the ring for the role of King Triton in the new Disney live-action remake of The Little Mermaid last weekend.

But now, fans have taken his plea one step further by starting a petition to make it happen.

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/terrycrews/status/1147573565857894402]]

After the 50-year-old tweeted a picture of himself dressed as the underwater ruler, writing "Ariel's Dad!!!! #ArielsGotTerry #AmericasGotTerry," supporters of his cause got to work, with several different petitions popping up on sites like change.org.

None of the petitions have taken off yet, but bearing in mind the fact that Terry's tweet got over 110,000 likes, it could be a matter of time.

One appeal addressed to The Walt Disney Company references the "racist" backlash that came with black actress and singer Halle Bailey's casting as Ariel.

While many fans praised Disney for choosing to cast the African-American singer in the highly-desired role, others expressed anger that Bailey didn't resemble the red-headed, white-skinned cartoon character, with the hashtag #notmyariel trending on Twitter.

Halle Bailey.
[[imagecaption|| Credit: Getty]]

"I don’t know why grown adults care so much about the casting of mermaids," wrote petition creator Gabriel McArthur. "Mermaids are imaginary creatures. I also don’t know why Disney can’t come up with an original idea these days BUT it’s nice to see new representations in familiar stories."

He continued: "Terry Crews is a great actor and I honestly can’t picture anyone else playing King Triton in the live action Little Mermaid. I’m betting you agree. So sign it! You know you wanna."

Disney and Bailey are yet to comment, but Disney network Freeform has written an open letter this week, reminding people that The Little Mermaid story is "a work of fiction", and that the casting of the "highly talented, gorgeous" Bailey is "inspired".

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/FreeformTV/status/1147647797732106240]]

"Danish mermaids can be black because Danish *people* can be black," said the letter, which was posted on the network's social media accounts. "Black Danish people, and this mer-folk, can also *genetically* (!!!) have red hair. But spoiler alert - bring it back to the top - the character of Ariel is a work of fiction."