Disney’s live-action Snow White is finally out in theaters, bringing to an end what feels like years of heated debate and speculation on whether or not Rachel Zegler is right for the titular role. Or at least, I hoped it would. Unfortunately for everyone, the Snow White–Rachel Zegler controversy continues to rage on thanks not only to poor box office performance but also a new article detailing behind-the-scenes issues during the film’s promotion, including Disney’s response to Rachel’s public support of Palestine.
Snow White opened in theaters on Friday, March 21, earning just $43 million at the domestic box office for its opening weekend. There’s no denying that it’s a miss for Disney, but what exactly does this have to do with Rachel and her political beliefs? Allow us to break it down for you.
What do Rachel Zegler’s political beliefs have to do with Snow White?
In a new report from Variety, one of Rachel’s “Free Palestine” tweets apparently caused friction behind the scenes because it was on the same thread as tweets promoting Snow White. High-powered producer Marc Platt even flew out to New York “to speak directly with her” and try to get her to take down the tweet. (Marc’s son, Jonah Platt, confirmed this story in a since-deleted Instagram comment, along with adding some of his own commentary that set off a whole other wave of discourse.) Rachel not only kept it up, she continued to engage with fans on the topic and on other political issues.
Per the article, this decision was tied to an increase of death threats against costar Gal Gadot, who is Israeli. (The article states that Disney had to pay for extra security for Gal and her family.) And other political and anti–Donald Trump statements from Rachel reportedly caused producers to worry that she was “signaling to half the potential audience of an already troubled film plagued by costly reshoots to stay home.” (Calls to boycott Snow White due to Gal’s support of Israel were not mentioned.)
Why is there so much backlash against Rachel Zegler?
To its credit, the article did cite other points of tension in the production, including COVID delays and strikes and made a point to note that Rachel and Gal didn’t appear to have any bad blood between them. But it’s also important to note that it doesn’t exist in a vacuum.
This is a culmination of years of racist backlash. Like Halle Bailey before her, when Rachel was first cast in the role in June of 2021, she received a lot of criticism from people who took issue with a Disney princess being played by a woman of color.
Another wave of public scrutiny came in 2023, when past interviews of Rachel criticizing the original Snow White went viral, prompting people to label her as “ungrateful.” In one red carpet interview, she called out the original Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ dated love story, saying, “There’s a big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her….weird, so we didn’t do that this time.” She added that the new version is “really not about the love story at all” but focuses on Snow White’s “inner journey that she goes on to find her true self.”
Though relatively inoffensive and, frankly, pretty fair given that the original film came out in 1937, fans of the animation felt like Rachel misunderstood the movie and were wondering why she took the role if she herself wasn’t a fan of the original. Even the son of the director of the animated Snow White took issue with Rachel, reportedly telling The Telegraph that his father and Walt Disney himself “would be turning in their graves.” And according to the Variety article, this negative press could have been a contributing factor to the film’s box office receipts.
But while the article does mention backlash to Rachel’s comments, it fails to mention the harassment that followed. Over a year later, in her cover interview with Cosmopolitan, Rachel revealed that the backlash went far beyond online hate. Speaking with Jack Antonoff about the summer of 2023, she said that she was harassed “for being brown. For having brown skin. For playing Snow White.” She then revealed that some people went so far as to go to her apartment to yell at her in person. “There was a lot of harassment from a certain group of people—they were showing up at my apartment and screaming profanities,” she said.
It’s unclear whether or not Rachel, like Gal, was ever provided extra security paid for by Disney—either when her casting was announced or when strangers were yelling outside her apartment. The article does not mention any increased security for Rachel, nor does it detail the level of baseless and racist harassment she faced—something that most likely affected the box office more than any tweet.
Rachel herself has not commented on the article directly, but she has erased Snow White from her Instagram bio (though her posts promoting and celebrating the film remain). Perhaps it’s a signal that her contractual obligations with Disney to promote the film are over or, at the very least, that the “social media guru” hired by the company is no longer working with her. Regardless of the reason, Rachel appears focused on promoting her gig starring in a West End production of Evita. And who can blame her?
Meanwhile, she’s been getting support from fans online and fellow actor Melissa Barrera, who was fired from the Scream franchise after publicly supporting Palestine.
It’s hard to know what, if anything, will come from this blame game. Though as pressure mounts for celebrities to be politically active and as political circumstances grow more urgent, it seems unlikely that this will be the last time the Hollywood industry finds itself at odds with one of its stars.
