Journalists across the world have signed a petition in defence of Snow White star Rachel Zegler after intense backlash.
Zegler, 23, stars as the titular princess while Gal Gadot appears as the Evil Queen in Disney’s live-action reimagining of the 1937 original.
But despite the iconic status of the 30s film, the latest Snow White had a dismal start at the box office amassing just $45million (£34.8m) in the US and $100m (£77.3m) worldwide in its opening weekend.
Variety then released a piece – titled Inside Disney’s ‘Snow White’ Fiasco: Death Threats, Beefed-Up Security and a Social Media Guru for Rachel Zegler – on March 25 exploring the latest controversy surrounding the film.
The article was met with backlash from film fans and critics alike for seemingly attributing Zegler’s views on President Donald Trump and Palestine as the reason Snow White has performed so poorly.
Caspar Salmon, a UK-based film writer, has launched an open letter that has been co-signed by more than 160 journalists so far.
Sharing the letter to Instagram, it reads: ‘We, the undersigned, wish to express our strong condemnation of the Variety article “Inside Disney’s ‘Snow White’ Fiasco: Death Threats, Beefed-Up Security and a Social Media Guru for Rachel Zegler”.
‘As film journalists and steadfast supporters of the Palestinian cause, we are shocked by this attack on Rachel Zegler and her activism, masquerading as a piece of insider news, in what is considered our industry’s leading trade magazine.
‘Blaming a box office failure on a young actor’s messages of solidarity with Palestine is particularly objectionable when Israel has drastically resumed its attacks on Gaza. This week, Hamdan Ballal, co-director of the Oscar-winning No Other Land, was seriously injured in an attack by Israeli settlers and detained by Israeli forces.’
Salmon continues: ‘Also this week, our press colleagues Hossam Shabat and Mohammed Mansour were killed in Israeli airstrikes, taking the number of journalists killed to over 170. Our industry should have more urgent lines of enquiry than bullying an actor at this time.
‘Coming after the same publication’s hit-piece on the actor Melissa Barrera for similar reasons, this article adds to a dismaying suspicion that Variety is editorially partisan to Israel.
‘Amnesty International has found that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip. Free Palestine.’
Here, we look at what Zegler said that sparked Variety’s piece, Disney’s actions, and how journalists have banded around the actor.
What did Rachel Zegler say?
A resurfaced social media post from last year is what has sparked the latest Snow White controversy.
Writing on X on August 13, West Side Story actor Zegler ended a post with ‘And always remember, free Palestine.’
According to Variety, the tweet allegedly sparked death threats towards her Israeli co-star Gadot, 39, forcing Disney to pay for additional security.
An insider told the publication: ‘She didn’t understand the repercussions of her actions as far as what that meant for the film, for Gal, for anyone.’
Zegler also criticised President Donald Trump during the US elections, which allegedly saw Disney take action.
Taking to X three months later, she wrote ‘F*** Donald Trump’ and ‘May Trump supporters … and Trump himself never know peace.’
How did Disney reprimand her?
Variety reports that a Disney executive ‘raised the studio’s concerns’ with Zegler’s team, and Snow White producer Marc Platt flew to New York to speak to the actor.
Zegler reportedly ‘stood her ground’ during discussions and did not delete the post, but agreed to see a social media guru to vet posts ahead of Snow White’s release.
She later issued a statement, saying: ‘Hi everyone, I would like to sincerely apologize for the election post I shared on my Instagram last week.
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‘I let my emotions get the best of me. Hatred and anger have caused us to move further and further away from peace and understanding, and I am sorry I contributed to the negative discourse.’
Platt’s son, Jonah Platt, responded to a now-deleted Instagram comment defending his father’s actions, which have been widely criticsed.
‘My dad, the producer of (an) enormous piece of Disney IP with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, had to leave his family to fly across the country to reprimand his 20-year-old employee for dragging her personal politics into the middle of promoting the movie for which she signed a multi-million dollar contract to get paid and do publicity for,’ he wrote.
‘This is called adult responsibility and accountability. And her actions clearly hurt the film’s box office.
‘Free speech does not mean you’re allowed to say whatever you want in your private employment without repercussions.
‘Tens of thousands of people worked on that film and she hijacked the conversation for her own immature desires at the risk of all the colleagues and crew and blue-collar workers who depend on that movie to be successful. Narcissism is not something to be coddled or encouraged.’
What is the controversy over the media coverage?
Many have blasted media coverage and Platt’s Instagram comments for conflating the dismal box office opening of Snow White and Zegler’s social media posts.
Critics and cinema fans alike have taken to social media to condemn some media outlets and trolls for seemingly ‘blaming’ Zegler’s condemnation of Trump and support of Palestine for the film’s failure.
‘LOL at that Rachel Zegler hit piece backfiring and showing she is incredibly principled and authentic. it’s in fact the industry that needs to change,’ Tylerllewtaing wrote on X.
Jillianchili added: ‘It’s weirdo behavior for a mega billion dollar corporation to pin their failures on a 23 year old woman of color and every single major trade falling in line with that narrative, Rachel Zegler doesn’t deserve this and if I was her I wouldn’t give these outlets the attention.’
Theoceanblooms commented: ‘I don’t think it’s a good sign that Variety are publishing hit pieces against Rachel Zegler blaming her for the underperformance of what by all accounts is a mediocre to bad movie.’
‘Rachel Zegler had one of the most powerful producers in Hollywood fly out specifically to ask her to delete a tweet in support of Palestine and she refused,’ TheJackeChristie wrote.
In a piece for SlashFilm, BJ Colangelo wrote: ‘Rachel Zegler is being set up to take the fall for a multimillion-dollar loss, and the people setting her up for it are banking on racist, misogynistic hatred on the internet to do the dirty work for them.’
‘More backbone and integrity at 23 than 99% of powerful people in this country. A queen.’
Similarly, many have pointed out that Gadot, who has shared pro-Israel posts in regard to the ongoing Israel-Palestine war, has reportedly not received the same treatment.
Following the October 7 attack by Hamas in Israel, she wrote in an Instagram post: ‘I stand with Israel and you should too. The world cannot sit on the fence when these horrific acts of terror are happening.’
She also signed an open letter to Joe Biden about the ongoing conflict, and organised a screening of the film Bearing Witness which includes footage from the October 7 attack.
HorrorHijabi wrote on X: ‘ Its not lost on me that Gal Gadot is allowed to give a lengthy speech about israel and zionism but Rachel Zegler writing “Free Palestine” is immediately too political and should be looked down upon. like obviously we know the bias exists but these articles are brutal.’
Poyopoppin agreed, adding: ‘Seeing the scapegoating of Rachel Zegler is so gross because while disney wants to protect gal gadot due to harrassment over her alignment with Israel, Rachel has endured so much harrassment due to being associated with this film at all.
‘Even if she wasnt pro-Palestine, Rachel had a lot of misogyny and racism levied towards her for years due to being Snow White, this just happened to be a perfect opportunity for the company to throw her under the bus.’
Metro has contacted representatives for Rachel Zegler and Disney for comment.
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