IMDb Changed Its Rating System After Racist Troll Review Bombers Tanked ‘The Little Mermaid’

The Internet Movie Database, most commonly known as IMDb, has opted to change its rating system after review bombers set their sights on The Little Mermaid.

The Disney live-action remake has been targeted by racist trolls trying to sink its reviews in protest over lead Halle Bailey, who plays Ariel.

The Little Mermaid’s IMDb page now comes with a disclaimer, which notes, “Our rating mechanism has detected unusual voting activity on this title. To preserve the reliability of our rating system, an alternate weighting calculation has been applied.”

The live-action Little Mermaid remake, which recently premiered in theaters, currently holds a 7/10 rating on the website. The rating includes a note stating, “The IMDb rating is weighted to help keep it reliable.” 

The user ratings show there are approximately 17,000 1-star ratings on the movie, making up 39.4 percent of the total ratings submitted to the website. The unweighted mean of the user ratings is 4.7, according to the website.

On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 68 percent on the tomatometer and a 95 percent audience score. 

Bailey, a singer and actress, has been on the receiving end of a racist onslaught since her casting was first announced.

She addressed the racist backlash earlier this year, telling Edition Magazine (per Page Six), “Seeing the world’s reaction to it was definitely a shock. But seeing all the babies’ reactions, all the brown and Black young girls, really tore me up emotionally.”

She later told The Guardian her role was important for representation, explaining, “If I would have had a Black mermaid, that would have been insane, that would have changed my whole perspective, my whole life, my confidence, my self-worth. You’re able to see a person who looks like you, when you’re young? Some people are just like, oh, it’s whatever, because they’ve had it their whole life. It’s nothing to them. But it’s so important.”

Though the film has some questionable moments, Bailey’s performance in The Little Mermaid has been celebrated for the way she “embodies the lovestruck mermaid” and brings the role to life.

“The movie is good — great even — and dodges all the obstacles that threatened to shipwreck it,” Decider’s Raven Brunner wrote in our review of the film.

The Little Mermaid is now playing in theaters.