Disney Scales Back ‘Snow White' Hollywood Premiere Amid Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot Controversies
The afternoon festivities will include a pre-party and screening at the El Capitan Theatre with titular star Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, who plays the Evil Queen, expected to attend. However, the red carpet will not include the dozens of media outlets usually invited by Disney to interview the cast and creatives at its premieres.
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Instead, coverage will be limited to photographers and a house crew.
The studio did not comment for this story, but the scaled back plans come amid controversies surrounding the Marc Webb-directed film, which hits theaters March 21.
Some toxic Disney fans questioned Snow White being played by Zegler when her casting was announced because she is a Latina actor The 'West Side Story' star also faced backlash when she called the 1937 original 'dated' because the prince 'literally stalks Snow White.'
In an interview with Variety at D23 two years ago, Zegler said, 'She's not going to be saved by the prince. She's not going to be dreaming about true love. She's dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be.'
Peter Dinklage spoke out about the movie's portrayal of little people for perpetuating negative stereotypes. 'Literally no offense to anything, but I was sort of taken aback,' he said on the 'WTF With Mark Maron' podcast in January 2024. 'They were very proud to cast a Latino actress as Snow White, but you're still telling the story of 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.' Take a step back and look at what you're doing there.'
Shortly following Dinklage's remarks, Disney said in a statement to 'Good Morning America,' 'To avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film, we are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community.'
Zegler reasons that the backlash to the film is due to the 'passion' for the original film. 'I interpret people's sentiments towards this film as passion,' she said in an interview in the March issue of Vogue Mexico. 'What an honor to be a part of something that people feel so passionately about. We're not always going to agree with everyone who surrounds us and all we can do is our best.' (Quotes were independently translated from Spanish to English by Variety).
World politics have also come into play. Zegler has promoted 'free Palestine' on social media. At the same time. Gadot, who is Israeli, has become an outspoken supporter of Israel on social media as well as in a passionate speech she delivered on March 4 when she was honored at the Anti-Defamation League's annual summit in New York City. 'Never did I imagine that on the streets of the United States, and different cities around the world, we would see people not condemning Hamas, but celebrating, justifying and cheering on a massacre of Jews,' she said, in part.
Gadot has stayed away from politics in the past, but has said she felt she needed to speak up after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
In February, several dozen pro-Palestine protesters gathered outside the Hollywood premiere of 'Captain America: Brave New World' and called for a boycott of the film over its inclusion of the Israeli superhero Ruth Bat-Seraph, aka Sabra, played by Israeli actress Shira Haas.
MAGA supporters also blasted Zegler for her reaction to Donald Trump's reelection when she posted on Instagram, in part, 'May Trump supporters and Trump voters and Trump himself never know peace.' She apologized for her remarks two days later.
'Snow White' publicity plans have already included Gadot and Zegler presenting together at the Oscars followed by Zegler making a promotional appearance in Tokyo. Zegler and Webb will also visit Spain for the movie followed by Zegler hosting a screening in New York City for the Broadway community.
Gadot was on 'Good Morning America' on Monday in support of the movie.
The official trailer for the film has garnered 11.8 million views on YouTube since its debut three months ago.
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