The controversy surrounding "Snow White" continues: Jonah Platt, actor, podcaster and son of "Snow White" producer Marc Platt, attacked actress Rachel Zegler for "stealing" attention from Disney's live-action adaptation promotional campaign for the iconic film, claiming her inflammatory political posts on social media and problematic behavior clearly impacted box office earnings.
The comments, written in response to an Instagram user and since deleted, came following a report by cultural outlet Variety on Tuesday, which exposed the drama behind the scenes in the days leading up to the release of Disney's live-action adaptation of "Snow White." Among other revelations, it was disclosed that the studios paid for additional security for Gal Gadot after she received death threats following Zegler's pro-Palestinian tweet.
Additionally, it was revealed that Disney hired a social media expert to monitor Zegler's content and sent producer Marc Platt to New York to meet with the actress and discuss her political statements – in addition to adjustments they were forced to make in promoting the film due to tensions between Zegler and Gadot. The main adjustment they had to make was minimizing interaction between them as much as possible, even at the film's official premiere.
An Instagram user who apparently supports Zegler wrote to the producer's son: "Your dad flew to NYC to reprimand a young actress? Any words on this? Cuz that's creepy as hell and uncalled for. People have the right to free speech no? Shame on your father."
The comment angered Jonah, who chose to defend his father while sharply condemning Zegler's behavior, which he said jeopardized the success of a film in which hundreds of millions of dollars were invested. "You really want to do this?" he wrote angrily in response.
"Yeah, my dad, the producer of the enormous piece of Disney IP with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, had to leave his family to fly across the country to reprimand his 20-year-old employee for dragging her personal politics into the middle of promoting the movie for which she signed a multi-million dollar contract to get paid and do publicly for," he wrote.
"Free speech does not mean you're allowed to say whatever you want in your private employment without repercussions. Tens of thousands of people worked on that film and she hijacked the conversation for her own immature desires at the risk of the colleagues and crew and blue collar workers who depend on that movie to be successful. Narcissism is not something to be coddled or encouraged," he concluded.
Jonah's comments, host of the podcast "Being Jewish," received mixed reactions online. While some users expressed support for his claims and argued that actors should be careful with their public statements, quite a few came out against his criticism, claiming that blaming the film's failure solely on Zegler is a hypocritical and ridiculous move.
"Blaming the entire failure of 'Snow White' on Zegler's politics and not at all on his father's and Disney's politics is ridiculous," one user tweeted. "She didn't make all the diversity, change, and inclusion changes in the film. She was chosen by Disney and by his father," added another user. "He seriously doesn't see the problems in the film itself, just her comments? Progressives are so distorted they have no idea how destructive they are, they never take responsibility," others added.
Despite the film opening at number one, it has struggled to recoup its investment and mostly receives negative reviews and low scores on leading movie rating sites. As of today, its earnings stand at just $87 million worldwide compared to a budget of $270 million, with many critics pointing to several factors for the failure, including the film's "progressive" approach, the use of computer-animated dwarfs instead of casting real actors, and of course the tension between its two leading stars.
