“Criticism is good but not when it’s clouded by racism”: Rotten Tomatoes Removes ‘Peter Pan & Wendy’ Audience Score After Racists Attack Tinkerbell Actor Yara Shahidi
Rotten Tomatoes has been bombarded with pretty constant negative reviews for Disney’s latest live-action Peter Pan remake, Peter Pan & Wendy. This occurs after the decision was made to introduce girls into the ‘Lost Boys’ gang and to change the race of some characters in the film.
In fact, there have been so many negative reviews for the film, that the Rotten Tomatoes audience rating has fallen to 12%, which may be the lowest ever for a Disney live-action remake.
Disney+ has already released Peter Pan & Wendy (28 April 2023). But, this film is receiving divided reviews from critics and viewers. Yara Shahidi recently made her film debut as Tinkerbell in Peter Pan & Wendy.
Rather than praising diversity, some racist Twitter users criticized Disney for the casting choice. Although it received a 63% ‘Tomatometer’ critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the audience rating was a shockingly low 12%. As a result, the audience score for Peter Pan & Wendy has been removed by rotten tomatoes.
Read more: Disney: 30 Queer-Coded Disney Characters Other Than Else
Racists Attack Disney for Casting Yara Shahidi
Disney has been making an effort to include a variety of actors in their casting for Disney remakes so that they can apply for roles that were previously filled by white actors. However, some casting choices have drawn criticism, such as when black actress Halle Bailey faced racist criticism for being cast by Disney as Ariel in The Little Mermaid. And now another star of a Disney movie is facing similar struggles.
For the same reason—hiring a Black actress to play Tinker Bell in Peter Pan & Wendy has drawn criticism.
The Peter Pan & Wendy movie has already premiered, which debuted Yara Shahidi as Tinkerbell. A few racist Twitter users criticized Disney for the casting choice rather than praising diversity. However, despite receiving a 62% ‘Tomatometer’ critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the audience rating was 12%.
And as a result, Rotten Tomatoes has removed the audience rating for Peter Pan & Wendy following racist remarks made against Yara Shahidi.
You would think that this casting announcement would be welcome news to all in a world where celebrities boycotted the Oscars because the nominees were not racially inclusive. However, it seems like some people are still offended when non-white actors take on roles that were originally played by white actors.
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Peter Pan & Wendy Is Dividing Audiences On Rotten Tomatoes
Black-ish actress, Yara Shahidi has been cast as Tinker Bell in Disney’s live-action Peter Pan remake. But why do viewers find the film to be unappealing?
Different viewers have offered a variety of reasons why they didn’t enjoy this live-action film. First off, the Peter Pan & Wendy cast has angered some people who do not want the characters to change along racial and gender lines. While some are spamming the movie with negative reviews, either because the film features some female characters or because the cast includes non-white actors like Yara Shahidi.
Is it appropriate to criticize something based on racism? One of the critics tweeted, “Criticism is good but not when it’s clouded by racism.
https://twitter.com/myfantasybb/status/1657080863790870528
However, most of the negative reviews are written by viewers who merely didn’t enjoy the movie for one reason or another.
https://twitter.com/STALLlONAIRE/status/1630627378815721474?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1630627378815721474%7Ctwgr%5E3d5f8e371195c02486329ce58f932604004e23b9%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cinemablend.com%2Fstreaming-news%2Fnow-people-are-upset-about-disney-casting-a-black-actress-to-play-tinker-bell
So now when a movie has female or people of color no one should critique it negatively right?
— MJK 🪳 (@jalal_mjk) May 12, 2023
I guarantee you that this is EXACTLY why they raceswapped those characters. So they can serve to shield the movie from any criticism.
— Kameron Brown (@MaverickSigma) May 12, 2023
It's funny how the same crowd that is REEEEEEEEE-ing about PP&W being "review bombed" by "racists" have nothing to say about movies like live-action Aladdin, Black Panther, Wakanda Forever, etc. Maybe it's because people don't necessarily have a problem with non-white…
— Kameron Brown (@MaverickSigma) May 12, 2023
So we're racists review bombing it? It was a legitimately bad movie though.
— ShadowyWulf (@ShadowyWulf) May 12, 2023
As more reviews start to roll in during Peter Pan & Wendy’s first week of streaming, its popularity among viewers may very well increase. These early reviews, though, are probably from those who were most eager to see it and thus, determined to watch it the morning it made its debut.
Peter Pan & Wendy is available to watch on Disney Plus.
Source- Twitter
