The underwhelming performance of Snow White at the box office surprised nobody — even Disney probably expected it. A lot of the blame was placed squarely on the shoulders of Rachel Zegler whose controversial statement regarding Palestine led to backlash and a strained relationships behind the scenes.
There were a lot of factors that led to Snow White being DOA at the box office, but the incident in question stems from the D23 fan event from last year — this was when the first official trailer for the movie was unveiled. Zegler took to X to thank fans for the positive response to the trailer before adding a politically charged message at the end, “and always remember, free Palestine.”
Disney executives were shocked
This week, a piece from Variety was published covering the ensuing chaos and fallout. According to the article, Zegler’s post quickly blew up to 8.8 million views and the studio went into crisis mode. The film’s producer, Marc Platt, flew out to speak with Zegler directly and try to convince her to take the post down.
The actress stood her ground for which fans have commended her. However, the post upset people both in and outside the studio — as one insider told Variety, “She didn’t understand the repercussions of her actions as far as what that meant for the film, for Gal, for anyone.” Does that put Zegler in the wrong for making the statement? Some people think so.
Jonah Platt responds
This week, Marc Platt’s eldest (and lesser talented) son, Jonah Platt, took to social media to put Rachel Zegler on blast for her decision. In his explosive rant he defended his father, who some had called out for his “creepy” decision to fly out and confront Zegler face to face. He also accused the actress of being “immature” and a “narcissist” that put the jobs of “tens of thousands of people” who worked on the film at risk.
Platt’s post very much points the finger at Zegler for the film’s commercial failure. However, reviews of the film tell a very different story, with most critics defending the star. In all honesty it seems like people are just losing interest in Disney’s live-action remakes — as a fan of Disney I can’t say I disagree, these constant remakes are tiring, especially when the originals are always far superior.
Platt gets dragged online
Thankfully, most of the internet seems to disagree with Jonah Platt’s take with many mocking the 38-year-old. One person joked, “”had to leave his family to fly across the country” the family in question: ben platt (age 31) and jonah platt (age 38).”
Another wrote, “Jonah Platt is the embodiment of the kind of toxic entitlement and gross ignorance that only a nepo baby could pull off.”
It’s hard to disagree with these comments considering how out of touch Platt’s rant came across. Maybe it’s because he’s a nepo-baby that’s never known hardship that makes him genuinely believe the financial success of a Disney film is somehow more important than an actual, real-life conflict happening right now.
Published: Mar 27, 2025 5:34 PM UTC