Rachel Zegler lashes out at a fan amid criticism over ‘woke’ Snow White movie

Rachel Zegler lashed out at a fan amid backlash of ‘woke’ Snow White ahead of the film’s release in theaters on March 21. 

The West Side Story actress, 23 – who recently performed at a secret premiere for the movie in Spain – responded to a comment on an Instagram video that had captured moments from the event that took place at a remote castle. 

The reel – which was uploaded to Disney’s main Instagram page – also included a snippet of the star performing the song Waiting On A Wish from the upcoming live-action adaptation of the 1937 animated classic.

A social media user wrote, ‘NO thanks. Disney wasn’t so difficult to cast a soprano???’ to which Rachel replied with, ‘i am a soprano! west side story is now streaming on disney+!’ 

The star took on the leading role in the 2021 musical adaptation – which notably earned her a Golden Globe for Best Actress. 

Zegler’s response comes after it was revealed the U.K. premiere of Snow White will not take place followed by the Hollywood screening also being ‘scaled back’ by Disney to avoid anti-woke backlash. 

A large scale premiere would have taken place at Leicester Square in London, but an insider informed DailyMail.com earlier this month that a decision was made to not hold one for the upcoming movie.

‘Disney are already anticipating an anti-woke backlash against Snow White and have reduced the media schedule to just a handful of tightly controlled press events,’ the source stated. 

‘That is why they have taken the highly unusual step not to host a London premiere for the film and are minimizing the amount of press questions that Rachel Zegler gets.’ 

Rachel – who was cast as the Disney princess in the live-action remake – has been embroiled in drama following her controversial comments on the Disney animation.

She sparked backlash after she called the storyline of the film ‘weird’ and also labeled the prince as a ‘stalker.’ 

In one past interview, Zegler had revealed that the new film would be going in a different direction and said of the character of Snow White: ‘She’s not going to be saved by the prince and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love.’

The star also faced backlash when she was first cast as Snow White as a Latina actress.

In response to the negative reception, Rachel penned in a since-deleted post: ‘yes i am snow white no i am not bleaching my skin for the role (sic).’

And earlier this week, Disney chose to also ‘scale back’ the movie’s Hollywood premiere, per Variety. 

The screening is still slated to be held at the El Capitan Theatre with both Zegler and her co-star Gal Gadot attending. However, it is reported that ‘coverage will be limited to photographers and a house crew.’

It was also revealed that Disney has ‘zero faith’ in the upcoming film and that the movie bosses simply want to get the movie’s limited promo ‘over with,’ per The Hollywood Reporter.   

A source said, ‘An advance sales cycle of less than two weeks just screams, “We have zero faith in this thing.” And it couldn’t come at a worse point, when the industry is just trying to limp along to May.’  

However, insiders for Disney expressed that they, ‘always intended to hold back the film’s big promotional push until the final few weeks, beginning when Zegler and Gadot presented together at the Oscars on March 2.’ 

On Wednesday, Rachel made an appearance at a secret premiere for Snow White which was held at a remote castle in Segovia – a city located north west of Madrid. 

The lowkey European event had 100 VIP guests in attendance which included families and content creators. 

Zegler had the chance to sing Waiting On A Wish for the crowd – but was not joined by any of her other Snow White castmates, such as Gal Gadot.  

Sources recently informed Page Six that Disney ‘doesn’t know what to do’ with ‘out of control’ Zegler. 

‘Disney’s lead actress is out of control. They don’t know what to do,’ an insider told the outlet. 

‘She’s an outspoken 20-something and Disney chiefs have called her directly and asked her to tone down her posts. They’ve called her management, but she won’t listen.

The insider added, ‘It’s been this way the entire way through filming. But it’s the tying of her politics to Snow White that is upsetting.’

Late last year in November, separate sources claimed that Disney bosses viewed Rachel as a ‘loose cannon.’ 

At the time, Zegler had slammed Donald Trump voters – but later issued an apology for hoping that ‘Trump voters and Trump himself never know peace.’ 

An insider told DailyMail.com, ‘They would love to be able to tell her to stop talking, but it is simply too late. They had talked about removing Rachel from the role several times when it was shooting in 2022.

‘She is a loose cannon and caused issues during the production because she didn’t agree with how the film plot strayed from the classic movie’s plot.’ 

They added that before filming, Zegler ‘read the script. If she didn’t like it then she should have not taken it. It wasn’t until after the film was wrapped that she really started creating drama.

‘She has been a nightmare but there is nothing they can do to control what she says. Everyone is well-aware of how difficult she is.’ 

The source continued, ‘Right now, it is way too late to shelve the film. As much as people think that her recent comments and controversies will hurt the film, it is not likely the case.

‘If anything, it generates more publicity and attention to the film, which leads to increased ticket sales. The film is Snow White, and it could really sell with anyone in the lead.’

While talking to Vogue Mexico, Rachel opened up about the backlash that Snow White has received. 

‘I interpret peoples’ feelings about this film as a passion for it. What an honor to be part of something that people feel so passionate about.’ 

The actress added, ‘We’re not always going to have the same feelings as everyone around us, and all we can do is give the best of ourselves.’ 

Zegler also told the outlet, ‘I understand that the community doesn’t want to be seen as a monolith, but the reality of being Latino and working in this industry is that we try to represent the entire diaspora. 

‘I know where I have been, I represent it in my narrative and I carry it in my heart every day.’ 

In regards to the 1937 classic and the live-action remake, Rachel explained, ‘It’s very important for the public to know that Disney has found this beautiful and delicate balance between the animated classic that everyone knows and loves from 1937, and at the same time, introduces it to this new generation.’