The Little Mermaid: Twitter user banned for 'whitewashing' Ariel actor Halle Bailey

An artificial intelligence scientist has been banned from Twitter following the shocking revelation they "whitewashed" black actor Halle Bailey in the new trailer for The Little Mermaid.

According to the New York Post, the scientist digitally imposed a white actress over Bailey, who is black, in the new Disney trailer. Twitter users have also reacted in outrage over the racist move, which went viral on the social media platform.

🎶"Wish I could be part of that AI"🎶 pic.twitter.com/C1V8xogBgq

— Seraphim Rising (@OccupyWpg) September 12, 2022

It follows the release of the live-action trailer for the Disney classic receiving over 1.5 million dislikes - reportedly over the fact that the original white-skinned, red-haired Ariel is being played by a black woman.

It was a revelation the now banned AI scientist, known on Twitter as @TenGazillioinIQ, took exception to and, shockingly, received praise for altering by some members of the platform, reports the Daily Mail.

"Credits to our member Artificial Intelligence scientist @TenGazillioinIQ," wrote one user before the account was suspended.

Another tweeted: "He fixed The Little Mermaid and turned the woke actor into a ginger white girl ...

"He says he can fix the whole movie comes out with 4x A6000 in 24 hours. It's over for wokecels."

But according to the New York Post, a follow-up tweet by @vandalibm claimed the alteration was "purely educational" and followers were asked not to "misinterpret this in a racist way".

However, @vandalibm was also suspended despite claiming they were only " ... amazed by high-IQ friend who works with Artificial Intelligence and the stuff he can make, and wanted to show people his field of study [sic]".

But the internet was not convinced as appalled Twitter users weighed in.

"This IS pretty educational," one wrote. "For instance, everyone on Twitter learned that @vandalibm and @TenGazillionIQ are racist while these two learned that this s — doesn't fly on Twitter (at least as evidenced by their accounts being deleted/suspended). Learning is fun!"

Another wrote: "You know guys, you were kinda asking to be suspended at this point for basically whitewashing a real human being."

"I'm not racist," tweeted another. "I just 'fixed' a kid's movie by changing the main character's race. Totally not racist."

One user pointed out that the scientist while removing the actor, decided to keep her voice: "Don't want the black face, but sure to keep the black singing voice. Says everything."

The trailer was posted to Twitter by Walt Disney Studios last Friday and while it garnered millions of views, the New York Post reports the movie-making giant disabled the dislike button after receiving 1.5 million thumbs-downs in just two days.