In case you haven’t seen the news -- or the weirdly angry memes and comments on social media -- the Little Mermaid is getting its own live-action remake, and some people aren’t too happy with the casting.

Yes, a bunch of adults is up in arms that a mythical creature who is half-girl, half-fish, will be played by a Black actress.

Let’s set aside the fact that, as we said, mermaids aren’t real. I’m sure if you go deep enough into the World Wide Web, you’ll find pockets of conspiracy theorists who would argue that they exist. But even if they were real, historically, mermaids are not the beautiful, wide-eyed, and precocious teenagers that Disney created in the 90s. They’re often portrayed as seductive and deadly maidens intent on luring sailors to death. And when we look at the Hans Christian Anderson story - Disney’s “source material” -- her tongue gets cut out, and she dissolves into seafoam. Cheery, right? Ariel is not a real person (or fish). Her story is a complete fabrication, and the version of the story most of us are familiar with has only been around for 30+ years.

So why the hate? Why are people so offended by a Black actress (with an incredible singing voice, by the way) getting the opportunity to play this coveted role? Think of all the times that white people have been cast to play non-white roles. Where was the anger then? Where was the indignation when Emma Stone played an Asian-American character in Aloha or Scarlette Johanson was given the lead role as Motoko Kusanagi in a popular Japanese manga series?