Ego Nwodim’s Ariel Didn’t Ask to Be a Role Model

In the latest stop on what is probably an exhausting press tour, Disney’s live-action Little Mermaid dropped by Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” to clarify some things. No, not Halle Bailey — this is the actual mermaid (played by Ego Nwodim), who took issue up top with Colin Jost referring to her as “Black Ariel.” “I don’t call you white Colin to your face,” countered Ariel, which, fair. In response to Jost’s question about how it feels to be a role model, Ariel replied, “Role model to who? Black girls who want to be a fish?” Ariel, according to Ariel, is not only normal, but actually “kind of bad.” She goes on to explain her love for SeaWorld and the Iraq War as well as her complicity in the BP oil spill. (“I ran up on that pipeline drunk as hell one night and did a little damage.”) We’re hoping all of this and more is addressed in the live-action Little Mermaid, set to hit theaters next year.