Inside the Disney Snow White fiasco Rachel Zegler caused with her ‘free Palestine’ post

You don’t have to look very far to find evidence of the fact Disney was in a crisis with their live action Snow White movie – a film that was dead on arrival even before it absolutely bombed at the box office with a lukewarm critical reception. The process of the film’s production was plagued with drama – with rumours of rifts between Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot as well as a fire on set and right wing pearl clutching about changes to their precious source material. But now new insiders have shed light on the catalyst that caused Disney to allegedly fly out an exec to speak to Rachel Zegler and get her to take down a free Palestine post in the build up to the Snow White live action fiasco.

Ben Platt’s dad flew out to meet her and persuade her to take it down

In 2024, Rachel Zegler appeared at a Disney D23 fan event to promote Snow White and witness the first trailer for the film being shown to audiences. The trailer got a huge amount of views, 120 million in 24 hours, and after that milestone she posted on Twitter / X thanking everyone for the achievement. In the replies to the post, Rachel Zegler also added “always remember, free Palestine”.

According to a new report by Variety, Marc Platt – the film’s producer, father to Ben – flew out to meet Rachel Zegler specifically after this tweet rustled Disney feathers. The excess were reportedly worried that the star of the film making any sort of political statement could jeopardise revenue. Nonetheless, Rachel Zegler stood her ground and the post remained up.

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Variety also reports that Gal Gadot, who’s Israeli, received death threats and Disney paid for more security for her. One insider has said “She didn’t understand the repercussions of her actions as far as what that meant for the film, for Gal, for anyone.”

But Disney allegedly got even more angry when Rachel Zegler continued making political statements when Donald Trump was re-elected as president – tweeting “F*ck Donald Trump” and “May Trump supporters never known peace” in October last year. Disney then intervened and she began working with a social media vet to monitor what she posts in the lead up to Snow White releasing last year.

Disney declined to comment on the matter when approached for comment.

But the reaction online has been of overwhelming support for Rachel Zegler. People are saying that she’s showing so much integrity, with one tweet saying “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.”

Similarly, Melissa Barrera – the Scream actress reportedly fired for her stance on Palestine – has too shared support for Zegler on her Instagram story.

I’ve not seen Snow White – but anyone I know who has says the thing that makes it worth watching if at all is Rachel Zegler’s performance. She might have ruffled feathers, but she stands up and speaks out.

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