Animators Accused Of “White-Washing” Princess Tiana In ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ Sequel

While Disney fans were absolutely bloody stoked to learn that ~woke~ Disney Princesses would be appearing in the Wreck-It Ralph sequel, Ralph Breaks the Internet, animators have been accused of white-washing Princess and the Frog‘s Princess Tiana.

The clip, which showed Moana’s Moana (voiced by Auli‘i Cravalho), Frozen‘s Anna (voiced by Kristen Bell), Brave’s Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald), Tangled’s Rapunzel (voiced by Mandy Moore), Pocahontas’ Pocahontas (voiced by Irene Bedard), Aladdin’s Jasmine (voiced by Linda Larkin), Beauty and the Beast’s Belle(voiced by Paige O’Hara) and The Little Mermaid’s Ariel (voiced by Jodi Benson), included a Tiana who reportedly looked v. different from her 2009 incarnation.

According to The Wall Street Journal, animators copped negative “feedback” from Tiana’s voice actress Anika Noni Rose and members of anti-racism advocacy group Colour of Change who accused Disney of white-washing the character.

Change of Colour issued the following statement via the WSJ following the news that Disney’s reportedly re-editing the character:

“Disney’s decision to restore Princess Tiana’s image to that of an unapologetically Black princess with full lips, dark skin and dark hair in Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 is a victory for Colour Of Change members, Black children and their parents, and Black audiences who want to see the variety of shades, shapes and sizes of Black characters accurately represented in the arts.”

“Now when Black girls watch #WreckItRalph2, they’ll see Tiana and other princess of colour that actually looks like them on screen,” COC president Rashad Robinson added in a tweet.

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