Snow White star Rachel Zegler's emotional response clip explained, old video resurfacing has fans praising actress' PR team but detractors criticize: 'bullied her off of social media'

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Snow White star Rachel Zegler is currently the talk of the town since landing in hot waters for criticizing Disney’s 1937 animated feature for its portrayal of women in power calling it “extremely dated”. While the 22-year-old West Side Story breakout actress is unable to respond to the backlash due to the SAG-AFTRA Strike – an old video of the actress has some folks on social media under the impression the PR team is behind its release to set the record straight.

It’s fair to say Rachel Zegler has one-upped her Shazam 2 co-star Zachary Levi at causing a PR nightmare. The Snow White live-action project continues to receive criticism over the titular star’s old comments from her appearance at the 2022’s D23 Expo when the mouse house unveiled an exclusive first-look preview with Gal Gadot in attendance as well. While speaking to Variety, she said that 2024’s Snow White movie has a modern edge, detailing “I just mean it’s no longer 1937” and Gadot added to say, “She’s not gonna be saved by the prince”.

Zegler also states the Marc Webb-directed feature is stepping away from the original adaptation’s narrative which focused on Snow White’s love story with Prince Charming. “She’s not gonna be dreaming about true love, she’s dreaming about becoming the leader she can be”. Coupled with a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly where she doubles down on her earlier statement but also makes it clear, “I think I watched it once and never picked it up again” while also revealing she was scared of the original cartoon. Similarly, she also conveyed her feelings towards the original adaptation’s love story as “a guy who literally stalks her. Weird, weird. So we didn’t do that this time” to ExtraTV in October 2022.

Clearly, the backfire from her comment has not gone unnoticed, especially by ET since the outlet was quick to post on Tiktok featuring a compilation of Rachel Zegler clips and as Buzzfeed notes, “sharing how grateful she is” to have landed opportunities in Hollywood.

Hope y’all are happy.

Rachel Zegler did nothing wrong and all of you who bullied her off of social media are disgusting, pic.twitter.com/GiQVuRiXhR

— The Moonlight Warrior 🌙 (@BlackMajikMan90) August 16, 2023

Rachel Zegler has had a talking to it seems.

You are not being taken out of context.

You are being judged for what you literally said. pic.twitter.com/TRAXrL2Fg8

— SJWwasteland (@SJWwasteland) August 16, 2023

although this video was posted a while ago, her feelings are still relevant now. she has the most beautiful smile, beautiful tears and most importantly beautiful soul. rachel zegler i will never stop loving you, ive got your back <3 pic.twitter.com/4KJxXvNT30

— alyssa*:･ﾟ✧ 🫐👼🏼🥂 (@bowerscrow) August 14, 2023

Rachel Zegler, the actress who’s playing the new Snow White, responds to the backlash towards her comments marketing the upcoming Disney movie, and allegations that she’s a narcissist. pic.twitter.com/ojHWx2DlqO

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) August 17, 2023

#RachelZegler https://t.co/2htEeeaqgM pic.twitter.com/WnU0LWDkQy

— Atticus Franklin (@AtticusFranklin) August 16, 2023

i find the rachel zegler hate train incredibly weird and awful. bc bffr no one cares about snow white this much. pic.twitter.com/qjWWJPkBls

— sophie lost “the story of us” (@sophie_isdumb) August 16, 2023

#RachelZeigler the new #SnowWhite is the most unlikable actress I have ever heard…She hates her Snow White character, and after she came out against the original movie, she is now crying over the backlash #Narcissist pic.twitter.com/o3nHtvlTs9

— John Ford (@PDXFato) August 15, 2023

Most unlikable actress so far…She hates her role, hates Snow White original story.Backlash is hard so she plays the victim.I don't believe a word!#SnowWhite #RachelZegler pic.twitter.com/eFChy8F5rH

— kontos🏴‍☠️ ☘️ (@_Kontos_) August 16, 2023

she got death threats over this shit. she’s a victim. https://t.co/GcMSSczMt4

— toren (@ybtoren) August 17, 2023

“I never wanted to come off as me being ungrateful for the opportunities I have,” Rachel says in the video. ” She can be seen visibly tearing up while discussing the harsh reality of dealing with her new-found fame and opportunity. The clip ends with Rachel saying, “I am the most grateful person alive but I’m also keeping it real”.

Supporters and detractors of the Snow White star believe the Tiktok video is the actress’ PR team trying to contain the damage from her comments. As one user on Tiktok noted, “The PR team was ON it” while another noted, “They even put the sad background music”. The video transitions to old coverages of Zegler sharing her love for Disney and expressing her excitement in playing Snow White.

For those unaware, the clip in question comes from a 16-minute vlog posted by Zegler last year in June on her official Youtube account. She appears to be discussing the death threats she received after landing the role of Lucy Gray Baird in The Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.

Unfortunately, several detractors on X (formerly Twitter) are falsely spreading the video as a response to the backlash. Although, to some extent, it could possibly be Rachel’s PR team releasing the video – it is still not a newly released response. As PursueNews clarified in the aforementioned para, Rachel’s old Youtube video is being construed as her apology for Snow White.

I think the “Snow White situation” is stupid as hell, Rachel Zegler said nothing wrong and her words are being warped by bad faith readings from misogynistic trolls, and if someone is genuinely bothered by any of this they need to log off and get a life https://t.co/diiRPr74tS

— Zoë Rose Bryant (@ZoeRoseBryant) August 16, 2023

The Rachel Zegler “apology” that everyone is sharing is an old video that is not in reference to Snow White. Just fyi

— Amala Ekpunobi (@amalaekpunobi) August 16, 2023

Rachel Zegler is so unlikeable and people are taking notice pic.twitter.com/ltWYhlG4RI

— Steph Anie (@mynerdyhome) August 15, 2023

Rachel Zegler wouldn’t have re-appeared as a major news topic if the strike hadn’t happened. They were old interviews.

Makes you wonder how much other insanity slides by because its drowned out by the next days events.

— Disparu (@disparutoo) August 15, 2023

🚨➡️ Rachel Zegler, who has been cast as Snow White in the upcoming remake, could learn a lot about humility from the actresses cast in Disney's Live Action Remakes. Despite the criticism surrounding the casting of Halle Bailey, a black actress, as Ariel in The Little Mermaid… pic.twitter.com/qWjFBQ5qxR

— DEL (@delinthecity_) August 16, 2023

RACHEL ZEGLER SLAMMED FOR THIS ANSWER😳 pic.twitter.com/r5ERgC8Asz

— EKE (@Ekejunior_2) August 16, 2023

its crazy how quickly yall jumped on the hate train against rachel zegler that was started by conservatives mad at her being cast as snow white (bc shes not “white enough”), shes “woke”, and she supports the strike; ALL BC she said snow white scared her when she was little

— kie (@criminalplaza) August 16, 2023

what did she do exactly other than just be little annoying? …cuz if that’s a crime these days, then a lot of u should be facing the death penalty https://t.co/ftVVWUTWo7

— popular loner 🤷🏼‍♀️🚶🏼‍♀️ (@milkyy_tweets) August 16, 2023

Currently, Zegler’s social media profiles on X and Instagram appear to be on a blackout of sorts with her profile and cover image replaced with a black still. Some like film journalist @BlackMajikMan90 on Twitter believe the backlash “bullied her off of social media”. but her social profiles have not been deactivated.

The West Side Story actress is unlikely to respond until the Actors Strike halts. The union strike requires members not to promote or discuss their upcoming projects produced by AMPTP which Disney is a part of.

This is far from the first time the 22-year-old star has dealt with criticism. In March, She faced pushback for revealing she took on the Shazam! Fury of the Gods role only because she “needed a job”. In January 2022, she also apologized for doing a bit where she engages in reading Briney Spear’s tweets. On the bright side, the actress has been extremely supportive and vocal about the Actors Strike.

Snow White will release in theaters on March 22, 2024.

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