13 Reasons Why star Christian Navarro claims he wasn't cast as Prince Eric in The Little Mermaid live-action remake because Disney wanted someone more 'European'

• Christian Navarro tweeted Wednesday that he wasn't cast in The Little Mermaid
• The New York-born 28-year-old actor of Puerto Rican-descent wrote: 'Disney said no. They'd like someone more "European." And we know what that means'
• He deleted the tweet without explanation around three hours after posting it 
• Navarro had put his name up for the role of Prince Eric last month on Twitter
• On September 3, the Netflix star revealed Disney had asked him to audition
• His rejection announcement came a week later, devastating and angering fans
• DailyMail.com has reached out to Disney for comment on Navarro's claim 
• Production on the live-action Little Mermaid is expected to begin in early 2020
• In July, Disney announced that singer Halle Bailey, 19, would star as Ariel
• The decision was met with fierce backlash as critics objected to a black woman portraying the red-headed mermaid princess of the 1989 animated film

Christian Navarro has claimed he was not cast as Prince Eric in the upcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid because Disney wanted someone more 'European' for the role. 

Navarro spent the past month campaigning on Twitter to be the next Disney prince, revealing last week that he'd scored an audition. 

Six days later on Wednesday, the 13 Reason's Why actor, who is New York-born and of Puerto Rican-descent, broke the news to fans that he had been turned down.  

'Disney said no. They'd like someone more "European." And we know what that means,' he wrote along with an eye-roll emoji.

'In good times be grateful. In bad times be graceful,' he added.

Navarro didn't specifically mention The Little Mermaid in the third tweet but fans have assumed that it was the film in question. 

He deleted the tweet without explanation about three hours after it was posted.  

DailyMail.com has reached out to Disney for comment on Navarro's claim.

Navarro put his name up for consideration as The Little Mermaid's leading man last month after reports emerged that Harry Styles had turned the role down. 

'So I heard Harry Styles passed on Prince Eric, well…I can sing,' Navarro wrote on Twitter on August 13. 

'Black Ariel/Latino Prince…no ones called but Season 3 [of 13 Reasons Why] drops next week and I think it's one hell of an audition.'

Navarro's fans loved the idea and pushed Disney to give the 28-year-old a chance. 

Three weeks later on September 3, Navarro announced that he was getting his shot. 

'@disney saw this, saw your support, and gave my team a call,' he wrote. 'They wanted to see what I could do. Tapes sent. Fingers crossed. Let's make some history.'

The actor, who plays Tony on 13 Reasons Why, has never showed off his singing chops on the Netflix series, so fans were eager to hear him sing in The Little Mermaid.  

Navarro's rejection tweet received more than 2,500 likes in the first couple hours after it was posted, with fan reactions ranging from supportive to outraged.

'Disappointed :/ its their loss cause you'd have made a brilliant prince Eric without a doubt. I'm sure you'll get better roles to play!!' one fan tweeted.

'I'm cool with who they cast as Ariel but you can't have constraints on one character but not another. You shouldn't on any,' another wrote, referencing the casting of Halle Bailey, who is black, as Ariel. 

'We know what it means but jesus, do they think all Europeans look the same?' another person tweeted. 'A person from Turkey looks different to an English person, A Spaniard looks different to a Fin. A ridiculous statement on so many levels from Disney.' 

Production for Disney's remake of The Little Mermaid is expected to begin in early 2020, but the leading male role still has yet to be filled. 

In July, the company announced that 19-year-old singer Halle Bailey would star as Ariel. 

The decision was met with fierce backlash under the hashtag #NotMyAriel as critics objected to a black woman portraying the red-headed mermaid princess of the animated film. 

Many others praised the decision to cast a woman of color into that role, as Disney films have historically been almost entirely focused on white characters.  

The Little Mermaid cast also includes Jacob Tremblay as Flounder, Awkwafina as Scuttle, Javier Bardem as King Triton and Melissa McCarthy as Ursula. 

The film will be directed by Rob Marshall (Mary Poppins Returns) from a script by David Magee.

The live-action remake will feature the same songs from the original 1989 animated classic by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman - loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen's Danish fairy tale - plus new songs written by Menken and Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, who also produces.  

The film would go on to win two Academy Awards for Best Original Score and Best Original Song for Under the Sea.

The Little Mermaid also started what became known as the Disney Renaissance, ushering in a decade of animated hits such as The Lion King and Aladdin, after a series of flops in the 1970s and 1980s.