By Thursday morning, Whitney Avalon’s latest “Princess Rap Battle” video had almost half a million views. Not bad since it had only been online for a little more than 24 hours. “It’s showing no signs of slowing down,” said Avalon, who grew up in Massachusetts and got her start at the Needham Community Theatre.
“Cinderella Vs. Belle” is the fourth installment of Avalon’s princess series, the first of which — “Snow White Vs. Elsa” — hit 1 million views in nine days, and is now up to 24 million. The latest installment, released Wednesday, features “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star Sarah Michelle Gellar as Cinderella and Avalon as Belle from “Beauty and the Beast.” The two actresses have a rap battle as princesses might: wearing their gowns in front of a mansion. Gellar’s lines include, “I’m the American dream with a fairy tale wedding. You’ve got teapots for friends, and I think your man is shedding.” Avalon responds, “My man saved my life, and don’t be misled, I want a man in the street but a beast in the bed.”
Avalon, who’s appeared in dozens of national commercials, said that she and her producing partner Steve Gossett approached Gellar about starring as Cinderella after they saw she had tweeted about the first rap battle video. “Now the world gets to watch us be incredibly silly,” Avalon said.
She added that some other big names might appear in future installments of the princess shorts. “We have some really exciting people in the works that unfortunately I can’t say yet.”