Fans upset Billy Magnussen getting Aladdin spin-off days after star Mena Massoud revealed he can't get an audition
The announcement that Disney+ is developing an Aladdin spinoff starring Billy Magnussen is causing quite the uproar on social media.
News broke on Friday that the streaming service is creating a new feature based on Magnussen’s bit character Prince Anders, the dim yet hilarious visiting royal who vies for Princess Jasmine’s (Naomi Scott) hand in marriage in the 2019 live-action remake. But many people on Twitter were not happy about it due to some other Aladdin news that came out just three days prior.
You see, earlier this week Aladdin star Mena Massoud revealed in an interview with The Daily Beast that he hasn’t landed a single audition in Hollywood since headlining the movie that, to date, has made more than $1 billion for Disney.
“I’m kind of tired of staying quiet about it,” Massoud said while promoting his new Hulu series Reprisal, which he’d been cast in before heading to Agrabah. “I want people to know that it’s not always dandelions and roses when you’re doing something like Aladdin. ‘He must have made millions. He must be getting all these offers.’ It’s none of those things. I haven’t had a single audition since Aladdin came out.”
So news that a white actor who appears in just a few scenes of the movie was being given his own spinoff film just days after the 28-year-old Egypt-born lead of the box office smash revealed he can’t even get in the audition room did not go over well on Twitter.
— Angie J. Han (@ajhan) December 6, 2019
So the dude who plays Aladdin can’t get an audition but the one white dude with one scene in a majority brown cast gets his own movie. Certainly a great look Disney
— gripmonster (@TheGripmonster) December 6, 2019
Just so we’re clear.
Mena Massoud, who starred in the blockbuster ALADDIN remake, can’t get an audition anywhere.
But Billy Magnussen, who plays the white comic relief character they added to the film for no good reason, gets his own spinoff.
🤬https://t.co/QATfxVHxPM— The Bibbs Who Saved Christmas (@WilliamBibbiani) December 7, 2019
Aladdin makes a billion and they somehow find a way to give a white guy a spinoff. pic.twitter.com/wjvdyTh5fH
— Ami (@Amic_8197) December 6, 2019
A white man can get a spinoff of a film that’s made up almost entirely of POC (save for him) while the actor who played Aladdin can’t even get an audition https://t.co/yq8QZV1mRf
— Aaron (@aaronfraggle) December 6, 2019
Actual Aladdin can't get an audition but the token white dude gets his own series?
Haha fuck you, Hollywood. You're racist. https://t.co/sCIGI8UWd1— Hanna Ines Flint (@HannaFlint) December 6, 2019
Very cool that Disney’s creating a show for the sole white character in the movie while the lead of a major budget film produced by a billion dollar company can’t even get work because of stereotypinghttps://t.co/CsfufvsasY
— Andrew (@acrutch01) December 6, 2019
Maybe it’s not such a whole new world after all.
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