Disney CEO RAGES After Rachel Zegler’s Snow White BACKFIRES!

In an unprecedented turn of events, Disney’s highly anticipated live-action remake of Snow White, starring Rachel Zegler, has crashed and burned at the box office, leaving the studio’s top brass—most notably CEO Bob Iger—reportedly seething with frustration. What was meant to be a triumphant reimagining of the 1937 animated classic has instead become a cautionary tale of mismanaged expectations, polarizing casting choices, and a PR nightmare that Disney couldn’t escape. With a production budget exceeding $270 million, the film’s dismal opening weekend haul of just $87 million worldwide has sent shockwaves through Hollywood, prompting whispers of internal chaos and finger-pointing at the young starlet who was supposed to carry this fairy-tale reboot to glory. So, what went wrong? Let’s dive into the saga that has everyone talking.

A Promising Start Turns Sour

When Disney first announced plans to remake Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 2016, the project was met with the usual mix of excitement and skepticism that accompanies the studio’s live-action adaptations. Following the success of films like Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin, Disney was riding high on a wave of nostalgia-driven profits. Casting Rachel Zegler, fresh off her breakout role in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, seemed like a brilliant move. At just 23 years old, Zegler brought a youthful energy, a powerful singing voice, and a diverse background—her father is Colombian, her mother Polish—that aligned with Disney’s push for inclusivity. Alongside her, Gal Gadot was tapped to play the Evil Queen, adding star power to the mix. On paper, it was a winning formula.

But trouble brewed early. Even before filming began in earnest, Zegler’s casting sparked a backlash from a vocal minority of fans who argued that a Latina actress didn’t fit the traditional image of Snow White, a character famously described as having “skin as white as snow.” Disney stood firm, with Zegler herself addressing the criticism gracefully in a 2022 Variety interview: “You don’t normally see Snow Whites that are of Latin descent. Even though Snow White is really a big deal in Spanish-speaking countries… it was a huge thing that was trending on Twitter for days, because all of the people were angry.” Her poise won her supporters, but the seeds of discontent were planted.

Zegler’s Comments Ignite a Firestorm

The real trouble started in 2022, when Zegler began speaking publicly about the film’s direction during Disney’s D23 Expo. In interviews with Variety and Entertainment Weekly, she didn’t hold back her thoughts on the original 1937 film. “It’s no longer 1937,” she told Variety. “She’s not going to be saved by the prince, and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love; she’s dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be.” She went further with Extra TV, calling the prince a “stalker” and dismissing the original’s romantic focus as “weird.” These comments were meant to highlight the remake’s modern feminist twist—a Snow White who prioritizes leadership over romance—but they struck a nerve with fans who cherished the classic tale.

Social media erupted. On platforms like TikTok and X, clips of Zegler’s interviews went viral, amassing millions of views and drawing sharp criticism. Users accused her of disrespecting a beloved childhood staple. “Criticizing Disney princesses is not feminist,” one TikTok creator, @CosyWithAngie, argued in a video that garnered 9.5 million views. “Not every woman wants to be a leader… and that’s OK.” Others defended the original prince, insisting he wasn’t a stalker but a product of his time. The backlash grew so intense that David Hale Hand, son of the 1937 film’s supervising director, publicly criticized Disney’s approach, calling it a betrayal of his father’s legacy.

Disney initially brushed off the controversy, banking on Zegler’s talent and the film’s updated narrative to win over audiences. But Zegler’s outspokenness didn’t stop there, and it would soon escalate into a full-blown crisis.

Political Posts and a PR Nightmare

Fast forward to August 2024. At Disney’s D23 fan event, Zegler took the stage to introduce the first official trailer for Snow White, which racked up an impressive 120 million views in 24 hours. She celebrated the milestone on X, thanking fans effusively—only to follow it up with a post that read, “and always remember, free Palestine.” The addendum, viewed 8.8 million times, stunned Disney executives. According to Variety, a senior exec immediately raised concerns with Zegler’s team, while producer Marc Platt flew to New York to confront her directly. The studio feared the political statement would alienate a significant portion of its audience, especially given the film’s $270 million price tag.

Zegler stood her ground, refusing to delete the post. The fallout was swift: death threats spiked against her co-star Gal Gadot, who is Israeli, prompting Disney to shell out for additional security for the mother of four. Gadot, for her part, kept her own political comments limited to supporting civilian hostages from the October 7 Hamas attack, avoiding any direct clash with Zegler. But the damage was done. The incident deepened the rift between Zegler and Disney, with insiders claiming she “didn’t understand the repercussions of her actions” for the film’s prospects.

Then came the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Days after Donald Trump’s victory in November, Zegler took to Instagram with a scathing post: “Fuck Donald Trump” and “May Trump supporters … never know peace.” The timing couldn’t have been worse for Disney, already grappling with a film plagued by costly reshoots and mounting controversies. Producer Platt intervened again, and after heated discussions, Zegler agreed to work with a Disney-funded “social media guru” to vet her posts ahead of the March 21, 2025, release. She later apologized, admitting, “I let my emotions get the best of me,” but the apology did little to quell the growing boycott calls from conservative fans.

A Box Office Disaster Unfolds

When Snow White finally hit theaters on March 21, 2025, the writing was on the wall. The premiere was scaled back to a press-free afternoon event at the El Capitan Theater in Los Angeles—a stark contrast to the glitzy rollout for Moana 2 just months earlier. Critics were lukewarm at best; The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey gave it a one-star review, calling it “lazy” and “visually repellent.” Audiences stayed away in droves. The film’s opening weekend grossed a mere $43 million domestically and $87 million worldwide—far below the $121 million debut of Joker: Folie à Deux, a fellow flop with a smaller budget.

Disney’s Burbank headquarters went into damage-control mode. Insiders told Variety that Bob Iger was “done playing nice,” with Zegler now “officially in the hot seat.” The CEO, known for his calculated optimism, reportedly raged behind closed doors, furious that a project meant to bolster Disney’s live-action slate had instead become a lightning rod for culture-war backlash. Sources claimed the studio was blindsided by Zegler’s behavior, with one executive lamenting, “The first time she shoots her mouth off, you nip it in the bud.” Instead, Disney had let her “control the narrative,” and the results were catastrophic.

Who’s to Blame?

The postmortem has been brutal. Some, like Jonah Platt—son of producer Marc Platt—pointed the finger squarely at Zegler. In a now-deleted Instagram post, he called her “immature” and accused her of dragging “her personal politics” into the film’s promotion, hurting its box office. Others argue Disney itself is culpable. Posts on X, like one from @AGHamilton29, noted that the studio chose Zegler as its lead and stuck with her despite warning signs: “The outcome was set from that first interview.”

Beyond Zegler, the film faced other hurdles. The decision to replace the seven dwarfs with CGI “magical creatures” after criticism from actors like Peter Dinklage drew accusations of both ableism and cowardice. The trailer, criticized as looking “A.I.-generated,” failed to excite. And the broader trend of audiences tiring of Disney’s remake machine—evidenced by flops like Mufasa: The Lion King—didn’t help. As The New Yorker’s Jessica Winter put it, “The reasons behind the implosion of Snow White are structural and multifaceted, emblematic of an industry that has no new concepts.”

The Aftermath and Zegler’s Next Move

For Bob Iger, the Snow White debacle is a rare misstep in an otherwise stellar tenure. Disney is now reevaluating its live-action strategy, with whispers of shelving other planned remakes. Zegler, meanwhile, is pivoting away from the controversy. She’s set to star as Eva Perón in a London production of Evita starting June 2025 and recently released a cover of “Who I’d Be” from Shrek the Musical, signaling a return to her musical theater roots.

Supporters have rallied around her, too. Actress Melissa Barrera, fired from Scream 7 for her own pro-Palestine stance, praised Zegler’s integrity, while journalist Mark Harris called Variety’s coverage a “hit job.” Over 50 journalists signed an open letter condemning the narrative pinning the flop on Zegler alone. Still, the scars remain. For Disney, Snow White is a $270 million lesson in the perils of mismanaging talent and underestimating audience sentiment. For Zegler, it’s a baptism by fire—one she’ll need to overcome to reclaim her promising career.

What’s next for this fairy-tale fiasco? Only time will tell—but for now, it’s a story that’s got Hollywood, and the world, buzzing.