As if Disney didn’t have enough problems with the new live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid,” reports have been circulating that the studio “unknowingly” hired a porn star to perform in the film.
The movie drew rather lukewarm reviews — especially for a Disney film — from critics, scoring a 68 percent on Rotten Tomatoes with a 94 percent audience score.
Financially, it hasn’t exactly been deemed a failure, but it has been noticeably “underperforming” at the box office and might be “lucky” to bring in $500 million — half of what was projected for the film, Variety reported Tuesday.
On Tuesday, news outlets including the Toronto Sun reported another bit of bad news for the production, saying Disney had “accidentally” hired an adult film star to appear in “The Little Mermaid.”
“Casting bosses working on the live-action remake wanted to use ‘really sexy male models‘ to portray the mermen in the film,” the Sun reported.
“[A]mong those hired for the job was 24-year-old Stefano Tomadini, who has also made adult movies under the alias Dante Ferrari.”
“They had no idea about Stefano’s racy videos,” an unnamed source told the news outlet, “and, given ‘The Little Mermaid’ is the big summer blockbuster for kids, it’s a bit embarrassing for Disney.”
The report said a Disney representative declined to comment.
It’s worth noting that Tomadini’s name doesn’t appear in the long list of acting credits for the film on IMDb.
However, according to the U.K. tabloid The Daily Sun, the actor posted photos to Instagram showing himself posing with “two other mermen” during filming in Sardinia.
In one caption, Tomadini wrote, “Lifetime memories with lifetime friends,” and tagged the official Disney account, the report said.
Breitbart film reviewer John Nolte, who rarely misses a chance to skewer Disney for its ultra-left-wing policies, was brutal in his comments about the story.
“A report says the child abusers and fetishists at Disney hired a gay porn star to portray a merman (are we assuming gender now, Disney?) in the studio’s latest flop, The Little Mermaid (2023),” he wrote Thursday.
Nolte questioned the idea that the casting decision was an accident.
“[I]t wouldn’t surprise anyone who knows anything about Disney to discover this was some in-joke amongst the perverts and child exploiters who now run the Magic Kingdom,” he said.
“Are we supposed to believe a gazillion-dollar company doesn’t run basic Google searches and background checks of potential employees? Well, maybe the company is too busy scheming to destroy the innocence of children to worry about such things.”
“What I’d like to know,” Nolte went on, “is how this report can claim Disney ‘accidentally’ hired a gay porn star when Disney has so far refused comment?”
He listed several recent box-office flops put out by the company and made it clear that he doesn’t feel one bit sorry for the media giant.
“If Indiana Jones 5 flops in two weeks and The Marvels flops this winter…. Well, that will make me and all decent people who believe adults should not sexualize children very happy,” he said.
“Disney is now demonic, a slave to its fetishes, and I cheer every failure and setback.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.