Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update Fans Love Ego Nwodim as Ariel

Weekend Update kicked off on Saturday Night Live with some political zingers for the most part but quickly brought in their first guest, Ego Nwodim as Ariel from Disney's live-action remake of The Little Mermaid starring Halle Bailey. Responding to the backlash from some parties about the film and the backlash to the backlash, Nwodim's version of the Disney princess revealed she's actually not a good person so it's not right to prop her up. Among her reasons for thinking this is that she grew up rich (her dad is literally the king of the sea!), plus she claimed that she's very dumb, and that Flounder won't even talk to her after she caused the BP oil spill. Check out the mixed responses and watch it yourself below.

To her credit, Halle Bailey, the actual star of Disney's live-action Little Mermaid, has met all responses to the film's first trailer with grace and poise. After D23 debuted the first look, Bailey tweeted that the fan response was "so overwhelming and incredible," and that she's "so happy you're getting to see a peek of everything."

Speaking with ComicBook.com at the Disney convention, Bailey added, "Well, this movie means so much to me, since I was a little girl. I think, approaching this role, I said to myself, "I can only try my hardest and make myself proud. If I make the little girl inside me happy, then I know I did a good job and I know I'm doing my best." I just gave it my all, and I hope people can take something away from it."

Black Ariel stops by the Update desk! pic.twitter.com/NZHVhBQOLK

— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) October 9, 2022