Avantika Hasn’t Actually Been Cast As Rapunzel In A Live-Action “Tangled” Movie, But She Is Still Being Bombarded With Racist Comments

In a viral TikTok, a white woman filmed herself crying over Avantika playing Rapunzel — but a live-action movie isn’t even in production.

By
Stephanie Soteriou
by Stephanie Soteriou

BuzzFeed Staff

In recent days, social media has been flooded with discourse on Avantika Vandanapu being cast as Rapunzel in a live-action adaptation of the Disney film Tangled.

Avantika in elegant strapless gown at an event
Gilbert Carrasquillo / GC Images

Similarly to when Halle Bailey was cast as Ariel in The Little Mermaid and Rachel Zegler as Snow White in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, much of the backlash toward 19-year-old Avantika portraying the princess appears to be rooted in racism.


In one TikTok, which went viral on X, a white woman filmed herself crying alongside the caption: “me pretending the little girl in me isn’t so upset by the live action repunzel [sic] casting.”


“Unpopular opinion rapunzel is a blonde white girl,” another TikToker posted, adding in the caption: “sorry but a brown girl with long black hair is NOT rapunzel.”


Others responded by sarcastically suggesting white actors who could play Black Disney princess Tiana in a live-action adaptation of The Princess and the Frog.


In addition, Mean Girls star Avantika’s Instagram posts have been flooded with nasty comments from people insisting that she will never be their Rapunzel. 

But amid all the backlash, one small detail makes the whole situation even more troubling: Avantika hasn’t actually been cast as Rapunzel. In fact, a live-action adaptation of Tangled isn’t even thought to be in production at the moment.

Animated character Rapunzel with Pascal on her shoulder peeking out of a window
Disney / Via youtube.com

Highlighting just how easy it is for misinformation to spread on the internet, the rumor’s origin can be traced to a tweet that was posted in March.

Tweet suggesting Avantika and Milo Manheim screen tested as Rapunzel and Flynn for Tangled live-action
Twitter

The X user, who has less than 2,000 followers at the time of writing, wrote in a now-deleted tweet: “Sources say Avantika and Milo Manheim have been screen testing as Rapunzel and Flynn Rider for the Tangled Live-Action.”


This was followed by fan cast videos being posted to TikTok, with a popular recent upload simply showing photos of Avantika alongside screenshots of the Disney princess, and Avan Jogia next to pictures of Flynn.


“Hear me out, a tangled live action set in India,” they captioned the video. While it racked up more than 100k likes, it also attracted negative comments from people criticizing the decision to cast Avantika as Rapunzel.

The situation spiraled from here, with the fan cast being circulated as fact. Meanwhile, the original X user tweeted on Tuesday: “alright i deleted #that tweet i tweeted it for fun but people took it seriously and decided to be racist.”

Twitter / Via Twitter: @adoreschandler
Twitter / Via Twitter: @adoreschandler

“Fyi never wanted avantika to be set up, i really liked the fan cast so i took the opportunity and mixed it with milo (since at that time i was still a stan),” they added. 

Suffice to say, people have been left saddened by the way that Avantika has been targeted amid a fake story, with one popular tweet reading: “my heart breaks for avantika.”

Twitter / Instagram @avantika / Via instagram.com

“How a simple fancast cant get her so much hate,” they continued. “Her instagram comment section is rancid, tiktok is getting so many likes for being vile towards her and nothing has ever been confirmed. Avantika is a talented, beautiful woman who deserves none of this.”

“Why are people ignoring the fact that the movie literally doesn’t exist,” another viral tweet asks.

Rumors of a live-action Tangled first emerged back in 2020, however, it has never been confirmed or officially announced by Disney. BuzzFeed has contacted Disney for further comment.

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