Trump-voting movie star Zachary Levi defends Trump-hating ‘Snow White' star Rachel Zegler from backlash
"Shazam!" actor Zachary Levi is giving "Snow White" star Rachel Zegler the benefit of the doubt despite her infamous social media post wishing for Trump voters to "never know peace."
In a new interview with Variety, Levi defended Zegler from the backlash she received for her outspoken liberal views, including her remarks about supporters of President Donald Trump following the 2024 election. Levi and Zegler co-starred in "Shazam! Fury of The Gods" in 2023.
"But I think that we have got to recognize that a lot of times people's decisions are predicated upon the bad information that they're being fed on a regular basis," Levi said.
Zegler has been at the center of a public firestorm over the past few years, after making several political and controversial statements throughout the production of Disney's recent live-action "Snow White" remake.
In one instance, Zegler criticized the original animated "Snow White" for its more traditional values. She called to "Free Palestine" while promoting the film's trailer, which ignited backlash for her and Disney. After Donald Trump won the 2024 election, she condemned his voters.
"May Trump supporters and Trump voters and Trump himself never know peace," she posted on social media shortly after the Trump's victory, adding "F--- Donald Trump."
She later apologized for her comment. Zegler's outspokenness was seen as a major factor that contributed to the remake of "Snow White"'s dismal box office performance earlier this year.
Despite Zegler's comments about Trump voters, Levi told Variety he didn't hold them against her.
"So should I hate her because she's downstream of all of these voices that are telling her that he's Hitler and the people who vote for him are Nazis? She's a really talented girl, and I do think that she wants the best for the world deep down," he said.
Variety also detailed how Levi's political coming out was hard for many of his Hollywood friends to accept. He created controversy in Hollywood with his public skepticism of the COVID-19 vaccine, and generated further outrage by becoming an RFK Jr. supporter, and ultimately a Trump supporter, after Kennedy threw his support behind the GOP nominee.
The outlet spoke to Robert Duncan McNeill, Levi's friend, who directed him on twenty episodes of the TV show "Chuck." Although they're still friends, McNeill said it has been tough to overlook Levi's views.
"I love Zach dearly, but I don't want in any way for our friendship and my feelings about him as a human to be an endorsement of his politics because I vehemently disagree with them," McNeill said. "But he's an unusual friend in my life. He sometimes can be more of a bleeding-heart liberal than I am, which shocks me. Zach walks the walk in a lot of ways better than me."
On the other hand, Levi's Broadway co-star Laura Bananti wants nothing to do with him after he suggested the death of a fellow castmate was exacerbated by the COVID vaccine.
Variety recalled how after Levi made the suggestion, she said on a podcast, "I never liked him. Everyone was like, 'He's so great!' And I was like, 'No, he's not. He's sucking up all the f---ing energy in this room. He wants to mansplain everybody's part to them.'"
She added, "He really sucked everybody in with his dance party energy, like, 'We're doing a dance party at half-hour.' I was like, 'Good luck, have fun.'"
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Yahoo
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