Melissa McCarthy’s Ursula makeup artist has responded to drag queens’ criticism of his work on The Little Mermaid.
Peter King stated that he found it’very disrespectful’ because drag queens claimed Disney should have recruited a gay artist to convert the actress into the classic character.
Their comments alluded to the role’s beginnings, which were modelled on the iconic drag queen Divine when the sea witch originally appeared in the 1989 animated masterpiece.
Following the premiere of the new film starring Halle Bailey, an internet outcry erupted, criticising the appointment of the British Oscar-winning makeup artist.
He has since told Insider: ‘I find that very offensive. Why can’t I do as good a job as a queer makeup artist?
‘That’s ridiculous. That’s trying to claim it and that’s fine, if that’s what they wanna do, but don’t put people down because they’re not what they want it to be.’
With 42 years of hair and makeup design experience, Peter has previously worked on The Lord of the Rings and Mary Poppins, and he emphasised that his Ursula style was not influenced by anybody else.
He continued telling the publication: ‘I didn’t really draw on anything. I played around quite a lot with different colours, different shapes, and stuff.
‘It just was sort of Melissa and I talking and creating. So I didn’t really draw on anything at all.’
https://twitter.com/_SierraLaPuerta/status/1658826127446618117
With 42 years of hair and makeup design experience, Peter has previously worked on The Lord of the Rings and Mary Poppins, and he emphasised that his Ursula style was not influenced by anybody else.
Sierra La Puerta wrote: ‘Now when we said Ursula was inspired by a drag queen we didn’t mean one who had only been doing it for 3 months bc- [sic].’
RuPaul’s Drag Race star Art Simone added: ‘When you lie on your resume and end up with the job.’
‘Absolutely why we should hire up and coming queer artists with a pulse on the present and a vision for the future more often. Yes I agree, this is that [sic],’ Kerri Colby penned under a clip of Melissa’s transformation.
The Little Mermaid is available to watch in UK cinemas now.