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False Claims About Live Action Rapunzel Casting Lead to Racist Attacks Online on Mean Girls Star Avantika; Here's What Happened
The rumors were sparked by a post on X. Disney has not announced a live action remake of the its super hit animated version.
Actress Avantika Vandanapu found herself as the subject of racist attacks from internet users. After unfounded rumors spread on the internet about Disney’s plans to make a live-action telling of the famous Rapunzel, and Avantika was said to be taking over the lead role. This unfurled a series of messages against the rumored casting, most of them fueled with racism against the Indian-origin actress.
What started the rumors?
Fan accounts on TikTok and X (formerly Twitter) sparked discussions over who they would like to see as Rapunzel in the live-action film. The live-action would be based on the extremely well-received animated film released in 2010, in which Mandy Moore voiced Rapunzel.
What led to this extremely controversial and racist discourse online was a post made by an X user. Quoting a “source,” the user wrote that the Mean Girls star, 19, would be joining the cast alongside School Spirits actor Milo Manheim, 21, as the lead couple. The post started circulating everywhere online, before the original author deleted it, flagging it as fake. “Alright i deleted #that tweet i tweeted it for fun but people took it seriously and decided to be racist," they wrote as a follow up. 
"Sources say Avantika and Milo Manheim have been screen testing as Rapunzel and Flynn Rider for the Tangled Live-Action,” read the original post, as per Buzzfeed News.
The user made another post, clarifying their stance. “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).”
Racist attacks unleashed against Avantika:
But the original post had been caught in a wildfire and caused Avantika’s social profiles to be flooded with racist attacks, most of them implying the actress not being suitable for the role. “She’s destroying our childhood why is she playing white characters she need to stop go find a blonde girl who can play as rapunzel how hard can it be find,” one user wrote. Another one wrote, “dont be rapunzel 😢 ur gonna ruin my childhood ok?”
On the other side, fans jumped to the actress’ defense. “She is my rapunzel,” one user commented under Avantika’s post. “How can u see avantika and not think Disney princess,” wrote an X user. Fellow actress and Never Have I Ever star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan voiced her support as well. "And they finally woke up to realize it was all just rumours and the sources never existed. good job! and to the racists, y’all still need a hobby fr,” Ramakrishnan wrote on X.
Avantika is currently involved with a Disney project, as a cast member of Disney + adaptation of the book A Crown of Wishes. She is on board as the executive producer as well.
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