Matt Walsh Slammed For Saying Black 'Little Mermaid' Isn't 'Scientific'

Political commentator Matt Walsh has weighed in on the casting of Black actress Halle Bailey in The Little Mermaid, claiming it is not "scientifically" accurate.

His comments have been met with widespread condemnation online, though Walsh later explained that his statement was a joke.

Speaking on The Matt Walsh Show, the host was speaking to the audience about the new trailer that has just dropped for Disney's live action remake of The Little Mermaid.

The casting of a non-Caucasian actress in the role of Ariel has caused a huge reaction online, with many delighted but the trailer has also been spammed with dislikes on YouTube.

"With The Little Mermaid, can we just mention that, from a scientific perspective, it doesn't make a lot of sense to have someone with darker skin who lives deep in the ocean," Walsh said.

He had previously been discussing the merits of casting different races in the role. Bailey, who was previously in TV show Grown-ish, was cast as Ariel back in 2019, a choice that was widely praised at the time.

"If anything, not only should The Little Mermaid be pale, she should actually be translucent," he said, adding that if you "look at deep sea creatures they're like translucent. They have no kind of pigmentation whatsoever. And they're just like these horrifying skeletons floating around in the ocean.

"That's what The Little Mermaid should look like, she should be totally pale and skeletal where you can see her skull through her face, and that would actually be a version of The Little Mermaid I would watch."

Jason Campbell of Media Matters shared the clip of Walsh which got 1.6 million views and led to the political commentator going viral online.

Thousands of Twitter users weighed in and criticized Walsh for his take, accusing his of being racist.

"So racist you're doing mermaid science," wrote @Thx4SharingJerk.

Mary Trump, the American psychologist, and the niece of former president Donald Trump, got plenty of plaudits for her take on Twitter. "From a scientific perspective, there is no such thing as a mermaid," she wrote, before also accusing people who disagreed with the casting of being racists.

After the video blew up online, Walsh replied and told people who were angry that he was enjoying the furor.

"I said Ariel should be played by someone with translucent skin like a real deep sea fish and thousands of Leftists took me seriously and are calling me racist because of it."

Walsh continued: "I'm actually being accused of harboring racial favoritism for translucent people. I love it. This is great."

Walsh then started retweeting and replying to people discussing the topic of a "pale" or "translucent" mermaid.

Author Zack Hunt stated that it was convenient for Walsh to say he was joking now, but Walsh once again replied with humor.

"You can set your watch by how quickly racists like Matt play the "I was just kidding" card when they get called out for their obvious racism," Hunt wrote, before Walsh replied with, "I was not kidding. I absolutely do want to see a film with a translucent skeletal Little Mermaid. It would be awesome."

Another prominent right-wing political commentator stepped in to defend Walsh.

"I'm sure @MattWalshBlog was absolutely serious when he suggested that the only scientifically accurate Little Mermaid would be a translucent, skeletal, gill-possessing being. You nailed him," Ben Shapiro wrote.

Walsh twice retweeted mocked up images of what a "translucent" version of The Little Mermaid would look like.