Snow White actress celebrated for refusing to delete 'free Palestine' post
After an article reported that Rachel Zegler 'trashed' the production of Disney's Snow White due to her stance on Palestine, thousands online are applauding her vocal stance this week despite the pressures of working with Disney and former Israeli army soldier Gal Gadot.
Disney's live-action version of its first animated princess film had a lacklustre opening weekend, garnering only $44.3m domestically and a 42 percent score from critics - making it the lowest-scoring major live-action Disney adaptation, according to Forbes.
On Tuesday, Variety released the article 'Inside Disney's 'Snow White' Fiasco: Death Threats, Beefed-Up Security and a Social Media Guru for Rachel Zegler,' in which the first paragraph refers to Zegler tweeting 'and always remember, free palestine' in a thread thanking fans for getting the trailer to 120 million views in a day.
and always remember, free palestine. — rachel zegler (she/her/hers) (@rachelzegler) August 12, 2024
The article continued to say that the tweet 'shocked' the studio and 'spiked' death threats to her Israeli co-star, Gadot, leading Disney to pay for additional security for the actress. The film's producer and Disney executive Marc Platt flew to New York to personally tell Zegler to take the tweet down.
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The Variety reporter, who also wrote an article that criticised actress Melissa Berrera for her pro-Palestine advocacy, said that Zegler, who 'trashed the beloved original 'Snow White'," refused.
Platt approached Zegler an additional time after she posted 'Fuck Donald Trump' and 'May trump supporters … never know peace' on Instagram, which eventually led to Platt requiring the actress to have a 'social media guru' to vet any posts of hers before the film's release on 21 March.
Zegler's posts on Trump added another audience demographic, Trump supporters, who decided to boycott Snow White, in addition to pro-Palestine audience members who were boycotting the film for its inclusion of Gadot, and pro-Israel audience members for Zegler's firm stance on Palestine.
ur boycotting snow white bc u hate rachel zegler and im boycotting snow white bc i hate gal gadot. we are not the same https://t.co/PF2wOhhhT6 — izzy🍓 (@fbhslut) March 22, 2025
'Backfired'
Although the journalist appeared to blame Zegler for the film's box office flop, that notion has "backfired" among pro-Palestine social media users, who say that the "hit piece just makes her look infinitely cooler."
rachel zegler went up against the entire zionist disney franchise, with a whole IDF genocidal soldier as her costar and promoted her film while also saying free palestine - and is now attemtping to be blacklisted by hollywood... i never wanna see anyone speak ill on her again. — milk (@milkstrology) March 25, 2025
"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. More backbone and integrity at 23 than 99% of powerful people in this country. A queen," one social media user posted on X, receiving more than 150 thousand likes.
Many social media users have pointed out that, amongst the myriad of bad reviews that Snow White has received, her performance has consistently been praised in comparison to that of her co-star Gadot.
I love how every review of this movie is literally just 'it's TERRIBLE so AWFUL made me want to DIE. But not you Rachel Zegler, you were AMAZING, we're not talking about you, you were the only good part of the movie, you did and incredible job' and honestly I love that for her https://t.co/nZkULjsULt — the tortured Noah department (@noahlevy13) March 21, 2025
"I think a lot of what the producers are trying to pin on Rachel Zegler's (very correct) decision to oppose genocide is that it's obvious the film is going to bomb, and they want to save Gal Gadot's career because they know that she, specifically, is the reason that it's going to bomb," journalist Heidi Moore posted on X.
"It's a scapegoating campaign to cover their asses for low box office. They don't want to admit that Gal Gadot's wooden acting and genocidal floundering is turning their blockbuster into a flop."
Social media users have also pointed out the apparent double standard, both in the Variety article and from Disney, in the treatment of Zegler's pro-Palestine and anti-Trump stances as opposed to Gadot's support for Israel and the Israeli forces, which she served in for two years.
rachel zegler wasn't the problem with snow white. the problem was that it was bad and her co-star can't act.
and speaking of said co-star, i fail to see how two words from rachel are any more 'political' than gal gadot being a former idf soldier - a fact curiously omitted here. https://t.co/nVY2npSGzX — zoë rose bryant (@zoerosebryant) March 25, 2025
"It's 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," one social media user wrote on X.
"Obviously, we know the bias exists but these articles are brutal."
Many online have argued that Zegler wouldn't have been used as a "scapegoat" for Snow White's poor performance if she had not been speaking about the Palestinian cause.
"Everyone knows if she'd said something about Sudan, none of this would have happened," one social media user posted on X. "Only political messages about one particular foreign country end up causing all this browbeating, nagging, and handwringing."
One social media user highlighted the irony of Zegler playing the role, a princess that is known for being the "fairest in the land".
"So let me get this straight, they made her Snow White, a princess who fights and advocates for her people, but didn't expect her to do the same in real life when actual lives are taken."
Zegler is one of many actors who have faced backlash for being outspoken about Palestine since Israel's war on Gaza began in late 2023, including Palestinian-Egyptian actress May Calamay, who was allegedly cut from the Gladiator sequel late last year due to her Palestine advocacy.
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