Brandy Norwood may have broken a barrier when she became Disney's first African-American princess in 1997, but it would be more than a decade before there was another one. Disney made Tiana, the protagonist of The Princess in the Frog, their first animated African-American princess. Many actresses vied for the role including Beyoncé, who reportedly expected to be offered the part based on her star power and refused to audition. Alicia Keys, in contrast, wanted the role so badly that she auditioned for the film three times, but didn't make the cut. The part eventually ended up going to Aniki Noni Rose.
Keys might have wanted to be Tiana, but she's not the biggest fan of Disney (or at least of Disney's older films). "I get real funky about the classics; I don't like my sons watching [Snow White]," she told Net-A-Porter. "It's totally sexist and misogynistic — she's cleaning for seven dwarfs. There's nothing wrong with a woman who chooses to stay at home with her family... but it's the way it's spoken about."
