Disney’s new ‘The Little Mermaid’ takes a dig at Kate Middleton?

Disney’s much-anticipated live-action remake of its classic, The Little Mermaid, is set to release on May 26th, 2023.

However, cinemagoers and critics who attended the early screening of the movie noticed that the movie may have shaded Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales.

“Ariel has sacrificed her voice in order to get to the surface and [meet] Prince Eric,” a reviewer who saw an early screening of Disney’s new remake told Page Six.

“She can’t speak so he tries to guess her name. His first guess is Diana. His second guess is Catherine, but after [Ariel gives a disgusted] reaction, he [concludes] ‘OK, definitely not Catherine.’”

Diana is the name of Prince Harry’s late mother and Catherine is the full name of his sister-in-law, the Princess of Wales, a.k.a., Kate Middleton, who is widely seen as Markle’s real-life nemesis. Kate has had a troubled relation with Harry and Meghan especially after they stepped down from their royal duties in 2020.

The critic also mentioned that there were a number of other subtle references in the movie. The critic pointed out one evidently being that Ariel is black in this version of the movie and Eric is white; making the comparison to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

While the choice of names could be coincidental, however the cinemagoer insisted that there was nothing in the movie’s internal logic to otherwise explain the mermaid’s extreme response.

“Disney would be disingenuous to imply those name choices were coincidental.”