It’s no secret that Disney’s newest princess, Snow White star Rachel Zegler, has been at the center of several controversies surrounding the film throughout its years-long lead up to the big screen. But a new report from Variety reveals the lengths the studio went to put a cap on her public social commentary ahead of the movie’s premiere this past weekend.
Not every Snow White controversy was initiated by Zegler. The film faced threats of boycotts from some of the public when Zegler, a Colombian-Polish actress, was cast in the role of the traditionally “white” animated character. More anti-woke online mobs vowed to avoid the film when set photos revealed the film’s “dwarf” characters were not all white and not all portrayed by actors with dwarfism.
But the most potent controversies came from Zegler’s own decisions to speak out—starting with her public criticism of the original Snow White in 2022. Tension between Zegler and Disney continued to grow, Variety reports, following Disney’s D23 fan event last August, after which Zegler tweeted “Free Palestine” while thanking fans for streaming the film’s trailer. Even more fuel was added to that fire when, following Donald Trump’s election, she posted “f--- Donald Trump” to her social accounts in a series of posts decrying his win—prompting more threats of a Snow White boycott.
Meanwhile, the Israeli-born Gal Gadot, who plays the Wicked Queen opposite Zegler’s Snow White, had made her feelings about the Gaza War known online. Following Zegler’s comments, Gadot began to receive increased death threats and the company was forced to fork over additional funds to ramp up her security while promoting the film.
And yet, Disney insiders lay the blame squarely at Zegler’s feet in the new report. “She didn’t understand the repercussions of her actions as far as what that meant for the film, for Gal, for anyone,” one said.
Disney worked behind the scenes to curb Zegler’s online comments. After her “Free Palestine” post in August, executives consulted with Zegler’s team in an effort to get it deleted. Variety also reveals that Snow White producer Marc Platt flew to New York to try and convince Zegler to renege—to no avail. The post remains on her profile to this day.
That wasn’t the only intervention, however. After her Trump posts, in which she also wrote, “May Trump supporters … and Trump himself never know peace,” Disney paid a social media guru to work with Zegler directly. Days later, she posted an apology for the posts to her Instagram stories. The constant hiccups led external industry insiders to surmise that Disney had “zero faith” in the film. A curtailed premiere with no outside press was the outcome.
The Daily Beast has reached out to both Zegler’s team and Disney PR for comment.
Despite speculation that the Zegler and Gadot had bad blood, particularly surrounding their differing views on Israel and Palestine, they reportedly got along just fine during filming. Things didn’t get strange between the actresses until the press run, according to the report, during which the actresses did separate junkets. At the premiere, they were seated rows away from one another, fueling speculation that Disney may have inadvertently played into the idea of a feud by keeping them apart.
The film got off to a tepid start at the box office once it hit theaters—opening to just $43 million on a $250 million budget—despite some positive reviews, perhaps proving industry insiders right that, at least when it comes to Disney, not all press is good press.
