Photo: Don Arnold/WireImage

The makeup artist who helped Melissa McCarthy transform into Ursula tIt’s the Little Mermaid The live-action edition responded to criticism that the job should have gone to a gay artist. Back in May, Walt Disney Studios posted behind the scenes video of King doing McCarthy make-up for the role on Twitter. Feedback has been largely negative. “We said Ursula was inspired by a drag queen, and we didn’t mean someone who had only been doing it for 3 months,” books Drag Queen Sierra La Puerta. drag race Contestant Kerry Colby added“,”[This is] Absolutely why should we hire up-and-coming gay artists with a pulse of the present and oftentimes a vision for the future.” In the original 1989 animated movie, Ursula was of course inspired by and designed after Drag Queen Divine.

King responded to the backlash in an interview with from the insidecalling it “ridiculous”, and claiming that Ursula’s final look in the live-action film was not based on drag performances. Of the criticism that a weirdo should have been appointed in his place, King said, “I find that very offensive. Why can’t I do a good job as a gay makeup artist?” That’s what they want to do, but don’t put people down for not being who they want to be.” “A makeup artist or makeup designer can create makeup, and they don’t have to have an attachment to the nature of what they’re doing,” King concluded.