When defending his girlfriend against trolls, the 24-year-old rapper admits that he 'didn't know people were this racist' because he 'thought Martin Luther King canceled this s**t out.'
- Sep 24, 2022
AceShowbiz - DDG doesn't see anything wrong with Halle Bailey portraying Ariel in "The Little Mermaid". Upon learning that his girlfriend has been facing backlash over her role in the movie, the "If I Want You" came to her defense.
The 24-year-old weighed in on the issue during his appearance on "The Bootleg Kev" podcast. "She be laughing it off. They be going a little too hard. But I feel like the people are more attacking the character rather than her personally," he said. "You know what I'm saying? I feel like she's caught in the crossfire because she's playing the character."
"Cause it's impossible to be mean to Halle. She's too sweet and she's really like that in person," the emcee, born Darryl Dwayne Granberry Jr., gushed over his partner. "So if people actually took the time to realize [who's] actually playing The Little Mermaid rather than just going up because she's black, they would realize they're trippin'."
DDG admitted that he "didn't know people were this racist." He then shared, "I didn't know. I thought this s**t was gone already. Like, I thought Martin Luther King canceled this s**t out."
Halle's role in the film enraged many social media users. They even launched a petition titled #NotMyAriel, which sought to get the Walt Disney Company to recast her with a white actress. In response, Freeform penned an "An open letter to the Poor, Unfortunate Souls" that doubled down on their decision to cast Halle, calling it "INSPIRED".
Halle herself was unfazed by the criticism. She said "words of encouragement" from her grandparents have helped her go through the outrage. "It was an inspiring and beautiful thing to hear their words of encouragement, telling me, 'You don't understand what this is doing for us, for our community, for all the little black and brown girls who are going to see themselves in you,' " the Chloe x Halle member told Variety in August.
