Disney goes back to drawing board after ‘whitewashing’ complaint

Bringing back what ‘got lost’ 

In Ralph Breaks the Internet, the friendly arcade game villain-turned-hero Ralph and his friend Vanellope discover the internet, sending them on a new adventure.

An early trailer reveals an instantly iconic scene: Vanellope meets all of Disney’s princesses – from Snow White to Cinderella, Ariel to Jasmine, and Moana to Tiana, who at first appears in a ball gown with dark skin.

But in another preview scene, a pajama party, her skin is notably lighter, her nose is more narrow and her hair is in loose curls.

Actress Anika Noni Rose, a Tony winner who voiced Tiana both for the 2009 film and for Ralph Breaks the Internet, took to Instagram to express her surprise.

“This summer, new images were released where she looked very different, with lighter skin and much sharper features,” Rose wrote. “I was as surprised as most of her & my fans were.”

“My team and I immediately put in a call to the studio to talk about the visual changes, and three weeks ago I had a meeting in person with the Wreck It Ralph team, my original animator Mark Henn, and others,” she added.

The team explained how “CGI animation did different things to the characters’ colour tones in different light compared to hand drawn original characters,” she said, and showed her “the steps they were taking to bring those things back that got lost.”

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