Mena Massoud (AKA Star Of The Live-Action “Aladdin” Movie) Deleted His Twitter Account After Backlash Over His “Little Mermaid” Comments
Rather than make new movies for today’s young generation, Disney continues to rehash the classics and give them the uncanny valley live-action treatment. Just to name a few, we’ve gotten The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and next up is The Little Mermaid featuring Halle Bailey. The film has had its share of controversy, from dumb people getting angry at a fish woman not being white to comments about the lighting to the yassifying Flounder. Well, it looks like controversy is officially part of The Little Mermaid’s marketing plan because it can’t go one week without someone hating on it. This time, fellow live-action Disney star Mena Massoud has gotten into HOT WATER for his SEA SALTY views about the film’s hype.
Mena played Aladdin in the 2019 version of the classic animated film. You could say the live-action adaptation did pretty well, seeing as it earned an eye-popping $1 billion at the box office. That’s half Avatar: The Way of Water money! With the May 26th release date of The Little Mermaid looking, the projections for Disney’s upcoming cash cow have been released.
‘THE LITTLE MERMAID’ is tracking to earn $115M on its domestic box office opening weekend.
In comparison, ‘ALADDIN’ earned $112M on its opening. pic.twitter.com/vpIoYcYcQ2
— The Hollywood Handle (@HollywoodHandle) May 12, 2023
Not happy with his movie being dragged into the hype train for comparative purposes, Mena opened his mouth on Twitter to say that Halle ain’t ever gonna be part of that billion-dollar world because TLM will never beat Aladdin! Maybe this is his way of pitching an Aladdin vs. Ariel-type Marvel movie? via TMZ:
MM wrote, “Our film was unique in that audiences went to watch it multiple times. It’s the only way we reached the billion dollar mark with our opening.” “Aladdin” went on to make $1.054 bil internationally … and its initial box office numbers were considered a big win.
Then came a remark that got Mena attacked. He followed up and said, “My guess is TLM doesn’t cross the billion mark but will undoubtedly get a sequel.” Unclear if he followed that up with any clarification on what he meant — but this alone got Halle fans up in arms.
‘Aladdin’ star Mena Massoud deactivated his Twitter account after receiving backlash for his Tweet about ‘The Little Mermaid.’ pic.twitter.com/KFHuffOLZL
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) May 13, 2023
Mena didn’t realize how many Halle (and Flounder) stans existed on Twitter because the man got dogpiled into oblivion.
Some felt Mena’s comment here was a cheap shot and suggesting ‘Little Mermaid’ wasn’t actually worthy of any future success, including a possible sequel.
Others are also saying that Mena sounds a little salty over the fact that he hasn’t been cast in much post-“Aladdin” — and that he’s still hung up on the criticism that movie received … and there was a lot.
The amount of DISCOURSE caused Mena to use up one of his wishes and poof out of Twitter existence. There’s no saying when he’ll be back online, but if he ever shows his face on social media again, it’ll be after TLM comes out and everyone forgets about it two weeks later. That’s the lifecycle of the Disney remake!
Pic: INSTARImages