In February 2020, The DisInsider reported the supposed news of a live-action Tangled movie being in the works. However, these claims were fuelled by mere whispers instead of confirmed announcements. Fans blew off steam by appointing their dream casting picks for the movie that initially pulled Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi to voice the titular characters in the 2010 animated Oscar nominee.

Subsequently outed rumours about Florence Pugh seemingly boarding the project as the front-running candidate to play Rapunzel fanned the fire. However, these long-time flying speculations have never been backed by a firm foundation of confirmations. Disney has particularly had its eye out for live-action reimaginations in the recent past, with The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, Lilo & Stitch and even the upcoming Moana movie.

Despite the massive verbal attacks against these live-action iterations of classic works, Disney continues to double down on the agenda. Somehow, Tangled is one such project that fans are positively looking forward to. Nevertheless, this eventually became a contentious topic of debate when fans heard of Mean Girls star Avantika possibly screen-testing as Rapunzel with Milo Manheim as Flynn Rider through the internet grapevine.

Avantika as Rapunzel in the live-action Tangled movie?

Although casting rumours for the potential Disney project have been swirling online since 2020, the new unfounded claim subjected the American actress of Indian origin to unsolicited hatred on April 7 again.

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Dispelling the rumours: 

While Tangled is still a pipe dream, Avantika had previously declared the dawn of a “new era of Disney princess,” but for a different project altogether. In November 2022, she shared a Deadline exclusive reporting the adaptation of Roshani Chokshi’s book, A Crown of Wishes, in the works for Disney+. Touted as a live-action fantasy series, the show will have Avantika Vandanapu headline the series rooted in Hindu mythology. She’s also executive producing it for Disney+.

The trailblazing actress had previously also led Spin – the network’s first original movie with an Indian American lead.

Somehow, her attachment to this Disney series got conflated with the development of a Tangled movie, that hasn’t even been confirmed yet. The bubbling fiery discussion over Rapunzel fan castings again shot through the roof, with a majority vehemently against her playing Tangled’s princess.

Earlier this week, J-14 added to the conversation by listing Milo Manheim as Flynn Rider and Avantika as Rapunzel – their desired fan casting for the potential movie. Several TikTok discussions also blew out of proportion as netizens couldn’t swear by Disney’s “race-swapping” move.

Comments like “Rapunzel is a GERMAN fairy tale published in 1812 which was later bought by Disney. The whole plot of the story is that the hair was long blond and magical. If you’re okay with an Indian girl playing Rapunzel then why can’t a white girl play Jasmine??? Wait cause no, that would be racist,” took precedence on X (formerly Twitter). The barrage of hate ultimately travelled to Avantika’s Instagram as well over a fan casting for a project that has never been officially confirmed.

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A stream of hate-mongering comments under A Crown of Wishes post (announcing her taking charge in the role of an Indian princess) directly attacked Avantika.

Hate rhetoric targeting Avantika:

Recent comments under her post from 2022 looked like the following:

• “YOU DON’T FIT TO BE RAPUNZEL LOL”
• “I believe we should be watching live action Rapunzel with a actress that looks like her bc thats what we grew up with. Not an actress who had a whole other different ethnicity background and looks nothing like the original. Disney is ruined.”
• “Are you German? Do you have blond hair? No. So get tf out.”
• “u will never be rapunzel hope that helps.”
• “ur not rapunzel”
• “YOU CAN LITERALLY BE JASMINE, WE WANT A BLONDE GIRL NOT YOU”
• “Do not ruin rapanzel we all wish to see her golden blonde hair don’t be in it”

Some contrasting replies attempted to break the misconception while hoping to knock some sense into those spewing their misplaced hatred against her:

• “dk why y’all in this poor girl’s comments😅she ain’t never said she was gonna be Rapunzel or that she wants to. It was purely fan castings (cuz the girl is gorgeous obvi), the Tangled live action movie isn’t even confirmed yet lol. This post literally shows Avantika already got her Disney Princess role🫶the girl is good”
• “These comments are absolutely disgusting. avantika hasn’t even been cast as rapunzel, so you guys are flaming her over a rumor. it’s also extremely saddening that you guys act like this in response to even the idea of a non white girl playing a princess. i actually hope that avantika isn’t cast, not because i don’t think she’d be good, i think she’d be amazing, but because i don’t want to see yet another halle bailey situation where a young woman is subjected to unnecessary and unacceptable hate over her ethnicity.”
• “Can’t believe yall kicking off about a rumour”
• “Can yall seriously leave her alone? I heard the casting was just fanmade, it was just a rumor, no matter what your opinion is and what is true she doesn’t deserve the hate..”
• “Hating a person because of a fan cast is actually insane and yall are going to hell.”