GREENSBORO, N.C. — Parents across the country have been capturing their daughter's reactions to the new Little Mermaid Trailer starring Halle Bailey, a black girl, playing the role of Ariel.
Stacy Couch's daughter Makayla has always been a fan of the Little Mermaid and when she saw the trailer, she was shocked.
"Her skin looks like me, and she was really good at singing, and she was really pretty, and I was like they made a princess that was my skin color," Makayla said.
Stacy says she knew she had to show the video to her daughter and says it's a moment she will never forget.
"I was just like close your eyes. I want to put something on, and I turned it on for her and I just sat there and her face went from tired and ready to go to bed to just full of excitement and joy," Stacy said.
Stacy and her husband adopted Makayla when she was a baby.
They have four older sons and do everything they can to make sure Makayla feels included and well-represented. But it hasn't always been easy.
"To have her go to a toy store and say 'why can't I find a brown baby doll,' which happens more often. As a white woman, I never really thought about it and then it was brought into my world and I was aware of these things, and you know, I had to be careful about making sure that she had the options and that she could pick whatever she wanted," Stacy said.
She posted the video of Makayla reacting to the trailer on Facebook but took it down after people were saying hateful things.
"My daughter deserves this happiness right now and all the little brown skin girls in the world deserve this and trying to take that away from them, that proves a lot about their own character not the character of the people doing it," Stacy said.
Despite the negativity, Stacy is grateful her daughter can see herself in her favorite Disney princess and understands that representation matters.
"No matter what skin color you are, you can be a princess," Makayla said.