Screenwriter and comedian Bisha K. Ali (inset) deleted her Twitter account and went into hiding after Disney announced she will serve as writer and showrunner for the studio’s upcoming “Ms. Marvel” series. Ms. Marvel will be Disney’s first Muslim superhero.
Bisha K. Ali, most recently a staff writer on Hulu’s “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” deleted her Twitter account and went into hiding after Twitter users uncovered racist tweets on her timeline.
Variety.com reports that Ms. Marvel is a Pakistani American Muslim teenager who lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, and looks up to superheroes like Captain Marvel. According to Marvel Studios, she has an “an Inhuman ability to alter shape and size [and] employs an idealistic attitude as much as any power to make the world a better place.”
Disney is currently searching for a Muslim actress to play the part of Kamala Khan.
Disney hired Ali to write the character as part of its diversity and inclusion initiative to bring more color to the studio’s films. Disney’s PR machine went into overdrive in July when it was announced that R&B singer Halle Bailey, who is Black, would take on the role of Ariel in The Little Mermaid. Ariel was previously Nordic (white).
Disney has featured a plethora of homosexual and transgender characters, both real and imaginary, in its films over the past decade.
