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American actress Yara Shahidi's casting as Tinkerbell in Disney's upcoming live-action film, Peter Pan & Wendy, has sparked race swap casting allegations that have divided the internet.
On February 28, Walt Disney Studios released the trailer of the film, which is a re-imagination of the 1953 animated movie and the J.M. Barrie novel.
The trailer shows the 23-year-old's first look as Tinkerbell.
However, not everyone is happy with Shahidi's casting since she has Iranian, African, and American roots, and Twitter users called out the creators for racially swapping white characters with black ones to allegedly gain acceptability and popularity among the masses.
A similar uproar took place when The Little Mermaid's first look was released and people criticized Halle Bailey's casting as Ariel.
Yara Shahidi is the oldest of three kids
Born on February 10, 2000, Yara Shahidi is a native of Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is the daughter of Afshin Shahidi and Keri Salter Shahidi.
The 23-year-old's Iranian roots come from her father, who is Iranian-American, while her mother is of African-American and Choctaw heritage.
Yara Shahidi is one of the three kids of Afshin and Keri. She has two younger brothers, Sayeed and Ehsan. Along with Yara, her brothers are also actors and have appeared in shows like Switched at Birth, Uncle Buck, and The People v OJ Simpson: An American Crime Story.
Her parents are also famous in their own right. Yara's father was known for being Prince's photographer while her mother has starred In the Motherhood and American Dad!.
American rapper Nas happens to be Yara Shahidi's first cousin. While talking about Nas on Fuse's chat show, White Guy Talk Show, she said:
“I think what was always weird to me is realizing that he was famous. In my head I was like, ‘He’s a great rapper, and he’s pretty good if I say so myself.’ I would [talk to] people and whenever it would come up in a conversation I was like, ‘Oh yeah, you might have heard of him. Um, my cousin’s Nasir, um, Nas.’ And they’d be like, ‘Oh, I have.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, that’s so cool.’"
Twitter reactions on Yara Shahidi's casting as Tinkerbell
After the trailer of Peter Pan & Wendy went viral over the internet, Twitterati was left divided on Yara Shahidi's casting. Several users slammed Disney for replacing the original white characters with black and labeled it "woke."
Others just stated that Shahidi's casting represents diversity and should not be taken otherwise.
Helmed by David Lowery, the film also stars Jude Law, Alexander Molony, Ever Anderson, Joshua Pickering, Jim Gaffigan, Noah Matthews Matofsky, and Sebastian Billingsley-Rodriguez in key roles.
Peter Pan and Wendy will be released on April 28, 2023, on the streaming platform Disney+.
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