Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, best known for her role in the Netflix series Never Have I Ever, recently opened up about the Tangled rumours and the “racist trolls”. It all started when rumours stating that Maitreyi would possibly play Rapunzel in a live-action adaptation of Disney's Tangled began doing the rounds on the Internet. Responding to “the racists”, Maitreyi wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “And, they finally woke up to realise it was all just rumours and the sources never existed. Good job! And to the racists, y'all still need a hobby fr.” She has added a clown face emoji to her tweet. ICYMI, a segment of the internet suggested that since Rapunzel is a German story, the lead role should be played by a blonde white woman.
In a follow-up post, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan said, “Like for any fancast you may have for any actor, South Asian or not, all the racist trolls can just stay basement dwellers. y'all probably don't even go outside to the movies anyway let alone touch grass.”
Referring to one of her interviews on playing Rapunzel, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan added, “Also lol she's still my dream role, been saying that since 2021. No one's gonna stop me from literally just trying to achieve my dreams. def not racists who are internet historians hahahaha.”
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan has always been vocal about her dream of playing the role of Rapunzel. Last year, in an interview with CBS, the 22-year-old said, “You know what'd be really cool? I've been saying this and I've been seeing other people saying this. I think Rapunzel should be a South Asian girl. Because hear me out, no one knows what it feels like to be trapped in your room, not able to go out because your mother is telling you no, without giving you an actual proper reason like brown girls do. It's true. That would be like a dream role for me.”
Before that, in 2022, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan shared a note on X that read, “I've made it like really clear that like Rapunzel IS my dream role… right? Like we know this… right????”
Meanwhile, Indian-American actress Avantika Vandanapu also faced backlash after several reports stated that she had been roped in to play Rapunzel in the live-action version.