Petition launched to defend Rachel Zegler over Snow White controversy gathers steam

Rachel Zegler has faced further backlash after starring in Snow White (Picture: Disney)

Journalists across the world have signed a petition in defence of Snow White star Rachel Zegler after intense backlash.

Zegler, 23, stars as the titular princess while Gal Gadot appears as the Evil Queen in Disney’s live-action reimagining of the 1937 original.

But despite the iconic status of the 30s film, the latest Snow White had a dismal start at the box office amassing just $45million (£34.8m) in the US and $100m (£77.3m) worldwide in its opening weekend.

Variety then released a piece – titled Inside Disney’s ‘Snow White’ Fiasco: Death Threats, Beefed-Up Security and a Social Media Guru for Rachel Zegler – on March 25 exploring the latest controversy surrounding the film.

The article was met with backlash from film fans and critics alike for seemingly attributing Zegler’s views on President Donald Trump and Palestine as the reason Snow White has performed so poorly.

Caspar Salmon, a UK-based film writer, has launched an open letter that has been co-signed by more than 160 journalists so far.

Sharing the letter to Instagram, it reads: ‘We, the undersigned, wish to express our strong condemnation of the Variety article “Inside Disney’s ‘Snow White’ Fiasco: Death Threats, Beefed-Up Security and a Social Media Guru for Rachel Zegler”.

‘As film journalists and steadfast supporters of the Palestinian cause, we are shocked by this attack on Rachel Zegler and her activism, masquerading as a piece of insider news, in what is considered our industry’s leading trade magazine.

‘Blaming a box office failure on a young actor’s messages of solidarity with Palestine is particularly objectionable when Israel has drastically resumed its attacks on Gaza. This week, Hamdan Ballal, co-director of the Oscar-winning No Other Land, was seriously injured in an attack by Israeli settlers and detained by Israeli forces.’

Salmon continues: ‘Also this week, our press colleagues Hossam Shabat and Mohammed Mansour were killed in Israeli airstrikes, taking the number of journalists killed to over 170. Our industry should have more urgent lines of enquiry than bullying an actor at this time.

A piece from Variety has been slammed by other journalists and film fans alike (Picture: Disney)

‘Coming after the same publication’s hit-piece on the actor Melissa Barrera for similar reasons, this article adds to a dismaying suspicion that Variety is editorially partisan to Israel.

‘Amnesty International has found that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip. Free Palestine.’

Here, we look at what Zegler said that sparked Variety’s piece, Disney’s actions, and how journalists have banded around the actor.

What did Rachel Zegler say?

A resurfaced social media post from last year is what has sparked the latest Snow White controversy.

Writing on X on August 13, West Side Story actor Zegler ended a post with ‘And always remember, free Palestine.’

According to Variety, the tweet allegedly sparked death threats towards her Israeli co-star Gadot, 39, forcing Disney to pay for additional security.

Zegler shared an X post including the phrase ‘free Palestine’ (Picture: X/Rachel Zegler)

An insider told the publication: ‘She didn’t understand the repercussions of her actions as far as what that meant for the film, for Gal, for anyone.’

Zegler also criticised President Donald Trump during the US elections, which allegedly saw Disney take action.

Taking to X three months later, she wrote ‘F*** Donald Trump’ and ‘May Trump supporters … and Trump himself never know peace.’

How did Disney reprimand her?

Variety reports that a Disney executive ‘raised the studio’s concerns’ with Zegler’s team, and Snow White producer Marc Platt flew to New York to speak to the actor.

Zegler reportedly ‘stood her ground’ during discussions and did not delete the post, but agreed to see a social media guru to vet posts ahead of Snow White’s release.

She later issued a statement, saying: ‘Hi everyone, I would like to sincerely apologize for the election post I shared on my Instagram last week.