The Race Lift of Annie and Warbucks/Stacks can be seen as a Cultural Translation. To readers of the original comic strip, Annie's red hair would have clearly implied that she was Irish-American: a group very prominent among New York City's poor at the time and who faced no shortage of discrimination. The musical reinforces this with its number of impoverished characters who have typical Irish names – Miss Hannigan, Molly, Tessie, Duffy – and the fact that Warbucks grew up penniless in the heavily Irish neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen. It's only fitting for a modern version to make them African-American, since they were always meant to represent a minority group associated with urban poverty.
It's stated that Annie was abandoned, which was her reason for being in a foster home. But we never learn the other girls' stories. It's possible that something else happened to them, especially Pepper, who is more bitter than the others. Then you factor in their playing along with Ms. Hannigan, implying that her guardianship might be better than other homes they've been in.
Perhaps, then again, the other reason as to why they also play along with Miss Hannigan is to keep from going to a far worse foster home, as, after all, Ms. Hannigan isn't great but it's better than being in a home where the kids are neglected, abused, in a home where people take the kids in for the stipend or all the aforementioned. Likewise, Miss Hannigan has been shown to be a little nice to the girls.
It's claimed that the fake parents will just drop Annie back in the system once Stacks wins - except Guy knows that Annie is famous enough that if she says, "I was kidnapped!", people will listen and the fallout will be bad for Stacks, and once Stacks realises what's happened, Guy himself will be in major trouble. There's only one way to shut Annie up for good.
From the main page, the Appeal to Obscurity trope mentions a girl asking who George Clooney is. He's not that obscure of an actor, is he?
In fairness, Mia's probably no more than nine, and George Clooney is in his fifties. Given the other references older people make that she doesn't get ("What's a Hard Knock Life, anyway?") she seems to be Hanging A Lampshade on the fact that a lot of kids in 2014 don't really have an awareness or sense of obligation to pop culture from before their time, including the 1982 Annie.
He might be obscure to kids who aren't allowed to watch television and who have never had so much as a hope of going to the movies.
