‘Moana’ Actress Bites Back at PC Police Over Halloween Costume

In recent times, the social justice warriors of the Left have been policing Halloween costumes, trying to determine whether or not certain people can or should wear certain ones without “culturally appropriating.”

The Disney princess Moana has been a popular costume over the past few years — but since the character is Polynesian, many leftists have tried saying that white people cannot wear the costume.

However, Moana herself — Auli’i Cravalho, who voiced the character in the 2016 computer-animated film of the same name — weighed in on the topic this week. It turns out she doesn’t see a problem at all with non-Polynesians wearing the costume.

“I think it’s absolutely appropriate,” the 17-year-old, Hawaiian-born actress (shown above) told People magazine earlier this week when asked her thoughts on the costume. “It’s done in the spirit of love and for Disney and for the little ones who just want to dress up as their favorite heroine. I’m all for it.”

Cravalho also said she thinks the biggest takeaway people should have from the movie is the message of it, not the characters’ skin color.

“I would encourage anyone who wants to dress up as a wayfinder who journeys beyond her reef to figure out who she truly is. I totally support you. Go for it,” she said.

Although major retailers including Target, Amazon, and Party City all continue to sell Moana costumes, Disney did pull one of its costumes for the character Maui (voiced by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) that it deemed “offensive” back in 2016.

The costume in question featured a shirt with brown skin and tattoos, along with a faux shark-tooth necklace and grass skirt. This led to accusations of “brownface” — and Disney apologized for it.

“The team behind ‘Moana’ has taken great care to respect the cultures of the Pacific islands that inspired the film, and we regret that the Maui costume has offended some,” the company’s statement at the time said. “We sincerely apologize and are pulling the costume from our website and stores.”

Last year, a post on the blog Raising Race Conscious Children from Sachi Feris explained why she would not let her five-year-old dress as Moana for Halloween; she also wrote that she used the costume as a lesson on cultural appropriation for her kindergarten-aged child.

“Halloween is an opportunity to have a conversation with your child about race, power and privilege,” she wrote. “Most important, we hope that you will use Halloween as an opportunity to engage your child in an ongoing conversation about how they can use their voices as change-makers.”

Ultimately, Feris allowed her child to go as Mickey Mouse because he is a “pretend mouse” who would not offend anyone — which ignored the fact that Moana is a pretend princess as well.

Despite criticism of the costume, Moana was among the most popular Halloween costumes last year and is worn by both children and adults, as Time magazine and other outlets have reported.

And check out this video:

Tom Joyce is a freelance writer from the South Shore of Massachusetts. He covers sports, pop culture, and politics and has contributed to The Federalist, Newsday, and other outlets.