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Halle Bailey Talks Little Mermaid Backlash & New Tuscany Film

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3 weeks ago

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As Halle Bailey gears up for the release of the whimsical romantic comedy, You, Me & Tuscany, the actor and singer reflected on starring as Ariel in the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid in 2023.

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Just three years ago, her casting caused a firestorm of backlash when Disney selected Halle as the newest bubbly red-haired Ariel.

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© Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection

The racist backlash was — needless to say — unwarranted, and incredibly ridiculous considering Ariel is a fictional, animated character. And we don’t know what a mermaid actually looks like (or if they even exist).

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© Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection

As a result, Halle became the target for online harassment from vicious trolls on social media.

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Arturo Holmes / Getty Images

But instead of thinking of that time in her life as a dark period, Halle revealed that the attacks resulted in her feeling freer in the end.

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Earl Gibson Iii / Getty Images

Halle told the Independent that The Little Mermaid was “a beautiful experience for me — and I feel like it taught me to listen to myself and the good voices inside. I learned how to block out the noise.”

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Paras Griffin / Getty Images

“It was actually freeing to be in the middle of this conversation where so many different opinions were coming in,” she said. “And they were so opposite from one another… I felt like I was watching myself inside a cup, seeing how people react to it… Growing up in the industry can really develop your sense of self, and for me, it keeps me grounded in a way. I know for some people it’s the opposite but I just always think to myself, ‘None of this is real.’”

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© Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection

That said, Halle also revealed that she does need a physical escape to retreat when the outside noise is overwhelming. And for her, that escape is nature.

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© Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

“I love feeling small, realizing that the world is so big and beautiful and I’m just a tiny, tiny part of it,” she said in the same interview. “The fact I’m here is a blessing, and I’m grateful, but at the same time, this is not what matters in life. What matters is keeping our feet on the ground, and holding the people we love.”

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© Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

Disney continued to support Halle through the unkind, choppy waters of the #NotMyAriel backlash. But she wasn’t the only actor of color to suffer racist attacks for earning franchise roles in projects some consider to be historically white.

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© Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

Another Disney live-action princess, Rachel Zegler, also received backlash for being cast as Snow White in the 2025 remake.

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© Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

In an Actors on Actors conversation with Variety, the two discussed the way they navigated these unfair storms.

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Gilbert Flores / Getty Images

“You just say, ‘Thank you so much for this. I have a lot of love in my life, and I’m very thankful,'” Rachel said in that 2023 interview. “We get to do our work and have that speak for itself instead.”

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© Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

In her interview for the Independent, Halle explained just how valuable their conversation was to her, and the way she now moves through inevitable criticism.

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Gareth Cattermole / Getty Images

“As women, I think we form a little protective bubble around each other, especially when we see a peer going through lots of opinions,” Halle said. “Rachel was definitely one of those people. I love her. We all understand what a vulnerable place it is to be, and at the end of the day, we are young women… we’re self-conscious… we’re insecure. I’m insecure at times, and sometimes the opinions of people can muddy your own thoughts. So it’s special to have a community who’s there to say, ‘You’re amazing. We’re here for you.’”

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Leon Bennett / Getty Images

Currently, Halle’s focused on the way she’ll be received in You, Me & Tuscany. She sees it as her first role where audiences will view her in her womanhood.

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Gareth Cattermole / Getty Images

“This is the first time where I am playing a grown version of myself,” the 26-year-old actor said. “This feels like the first time where I’m stepping into my womanhood. It felt cool because it reflected me now. You know, I have a baby. I do feel like I’m an official adult woman.”

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© Universal Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection

And with the release of the Black-led rom-com, Halle finds herself in the middle of another discussion surrounding race.

© Universal Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection

There’s been discourse around the need for Tuscany to be a box-office success, so that other Black romance stories (whether film or literary) have the opportunity to be told.

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Paras Griffin / Getty Images

Absolutely no pressure, just the fate of all future Black representation riding on the success of one film.

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© Universal Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection

“It’s weird that it is so rare,” Halle said. “I feel honored that I’m able to show other young Black girls and women and men that we deserve to see ourselves on screen. It’s a theme that’s been very prominent in the projects that I choose, or at least I try to choose.”

© Universal Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection

You, Me & Tuscany hits theaters on April 10. I, for one, will be seated.

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© Universal Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection

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Why Trump Stayed Onstage Longer Than JD Vance After Shooting

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26 minutes ago

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April 29, 2026

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President Donald Trump suggested he may have intentionally slowed down U.S. Secret Service agents, causing Vice President JD Vance to be evacuated from the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner noticeably faster than the commander-in-chief following a nearby shooting.

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Nathan Howard / Getty Images

“I wanted to see what was happening,” Trump explained during a high-profile interview with 60 Minutes on Sunday. “And I wasn’t making it that easy for them. I wanted to see what was going on. And by that time, we started to realize maybe it was a bad problem,” he noted regarding the security breach.

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CBS / Via x.com

Trump commented on the frantic ballroom scene shortly after CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell pointed out that it took security details roughly 20 seconds longer to usher him offstage compared to his VP. “What was happening?” O’Donnell questioned. “Well, what happened is it was a little bit me,” Trump admitted.

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CBS / Via x.com

Footage from the event depicts the audible sounds of gunfire echoing from outside the main ballroom while the president and first lady Melania Trump, alongside others at the head table, observed a performance by mentalist Oz Pearlman. Moments later, several agents emerged from the wings before accelerating their pace to surround the Trumps.

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Security personnel then assisted Trump from his chair before escorting him offstage behind a protective curtain. Vance had been rushed out about 20 seconds prior after agents grabbed him by his suit jacket while he was still seated and hurried him away from the dais. Trump told O’Donnell he felt “surrounded by great people” but claimed he forced the agents to “act a little bit more slowly.”

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Andrew Harnik / Getty Images

“I said, ‘Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Let me see. Wait a minute,’” Trump recalled. The president further noted that as they exited, agents instructed him to “please go down on the floor.” He and the first lady took cover on the ground, he said, before rising shortly after to be led by the protective detail to a secure holding room.

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As the current administration faces intense scrutiny regarding the reported lower level of security at the dinner compared to other presidential appearances, White House officials are scheduled to review security protocols this week for upcoming major events involving the president.

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Karoline Leavitt Hitler Comment Sparks Brutal Online Rebuttal

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2 hours ago

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April 29, 2026

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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday tried to blame what she called a “left-wing cult of hatred” against President Donald Trump for political violence in the nation, including the shooting at Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.

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Andrew Harnik / Getty Images

But one of her complaints caught the eyes and ears of critics. “Those who constantly falsely label and slander the president as a fascist, as a threat to democracy, and compare him to Hitler to score political points are fueling this kind of violence,” she declared.

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As many were quick to point out, one of the most prominent examples of someone comparing Trump to Hitler is already in the White House: Vice President JD Vance. In 2016, when Trump was running for president for the first time, Vance told a friend via private message that he wasn’t sure if Trump was “a cynical asshole like Nixon” or if he could be “America’s Hitler.”

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Brendan Smialowski / Getty Images

Vance has since said he was wrong about Trump. But many are reminding Leavitt of what he said in the past:

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Is Taylor Swift Calling Out Fans for Lyrical Paternity Tests?

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3 hours ago

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April 29, 2026

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Taylor Swift has officially earned her spot on the New York Times list of the 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters, joining the ranks of icons like Mariah Carey, Nile Rodgers, and Jay-Z.

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Monica Schipper / Getty Images

As Taylor’s massive discography has expanded, her dedicated fanbase has made it their mission to analyze every single lyric, hunting for secret clues about the singer’s private life.

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Christopher Polk / Getty Images

Take her iconic hit “All Too Well,” for instance. The lyrics, “I left my scarf there at your sister’s house, and you’ve still got it in your drawer even now,” sparked a viral investigation. Fans quickly deduced the scarf was left at Maggie Gyllenhaal’s house during Taylor’s relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal. The internet then collectively demanded the actor return the infamous accessory.

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Jamie Mccarthy / Getty Images

The scarf saga became so legendary that music royalty Dionne Warwick even weighed in on Twitter with a hilarious offer to help:

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Mark Sagliocco / Getty Images

“If that young man has Taylor’s scarf he should return it.”

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@dionnewarwick / Via x.com

“It does not belong to you. Box it up and I will pay the cost of postage, Jake.”

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In a recent interview with the New York Times, Taylor finally addressed the constant decoding of her work, confessing that the obsession with her personal life “can be a little bit weird.”

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Aeon / Getty Images

“There’s corners of my fanbase who are gonna take things to a really extreme place,” Swift admitted. “There’s nothing I can do about that. There’s people who are gonna try to, like, do detective work, figure out the details — who is that about? What is this?”

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Kevin Mazur / Getty Images

“When it gets a little bit weird for me is when people act like it’s a paternity test,” she added. “Like, ‘This song’s about that person.’ Because I’m like, ‘That dude didn’t write the song, I did.’ But that’s part of it.”

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Robert Gauthier / Getty Images

Fans are currently split on Taylor’s take regarding these lyrical Easter egg hunts. For the most part, many listeners are backing her up:

“i think it’s very stupid when people waste their time trying to find out who a particular song is about.. like just enjoy the song”

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“maylors, joewives, and travwives all are gonna hate reading this”

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“Thank you for calling us out”

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“Like how she owns it, the end of the day, she wrote the song, not the guesses.”

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“Those people are the Swifties. And I am guilty I am one of that people”

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“People focus on the muse but ignore the creator… she clocked that”

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“She’s so right. People get so caught up in the ‘who’ that they forget to appreciate the ‘how.’ The songwriting stands on its own regardless of whose name is in the headlines.”

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“Taylor writes from her own heart and experiences yet fans turn every line into a guessing game. Let her keep the magic instead of treating songs like detective puzzles. Shes right.”

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“Taylor Swift really said it perfectly People love playing detective , but turning songs into a ‘paternity test’ is kinda missing the point At the end of the day, the story, the emotions, the art — it all comes from her Let the music be felt, not dissected”

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@HypeTime01 / Via x.com

“Taylor calling it a paternity test is the most accurate description of Twitter/X whenever she drops an album. People are out here with whiteboards and red string trying to prove a song is about a guy she dated for three weeks in 2014.”

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@Reika675 / Via x.com

“Not Taylor calling us detectives with fake badges We out here with red string and conspiracy boards like All Too Well 10 Min Version was about my situationship too. But she’s righ the pen belongs to her”

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“I know some people in this fandom will be so mad…,lmao”

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However, a different segment of the internet argues that Taylor herself encouraged this sleuthing behavior for years:

“I find this a little odd of her to say… she’s the one who taught us to do that. She capitalized letters in her lyric books in the cds for us to decode… now she doesn’t want us dissecting things?”

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“Taylor Swift needs to take her ego down a notch. Maybe her fanatic ‘swifties’ are all up in her business but the general public doesn’t care. Plus, songs and poems have always held a mysterious origin curiosity. Some are easy to figure out or the author says it. Others are secretive leaving the public to wonder. That’s the beauty of songs and poems.”

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“She literally leaves easter eggs everywhere and than says this girl, you trained them that way!”

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“She trained detectives for years and now wants peace. Fair enough”

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Throughout her storied career, Taylor’s high-profile romances have been under a microscope. She has previously been linked to stars like Harry Styles, Joe Jonas, Matty Healy, and Joe Alwyn. During those eras, fans meticulously dissected her lyrics like a team of forensic experts to find any scrap of romantic tea.

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David Krieger / Getty Images

She is now happily engaged to NFL champion Travis Kelce and is in the midst of wedding planning. With fans affectionately calling them the “English teacher” and the “gym teacher,” it’s certain that their upcoming nuptials will be the most analyzed event in pop culture history.

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What do you think about Taylor’s thoughts on fans hunting for relationship clues in her music? Share your opinion in the comments below!

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