Jonah Platt, son of Snow White producer Marc Platt, has blamed lead actress Rachel Zegler for the Disney remake's poor performance. In a since-deleted message, the actor and podcaster slammed Rachel's social media behavior, calling her "immature" and “narcissistic.”
His explosive rant followed a Variety report on Tuesday (March 25) stating that Marc had flown to New York to ask the actress to delete posts in which she expressed support for Palestine and criticized Donald Trump.
Highlights
- Jonah Platt blamed Rachel Zegler for the 'Snow White' remake’s failure to attract audiences during its opening week.
- The son of producer Marc Platt attributed the fiasco to Rachel voicing her political views online.
- He called her “immature” and claimed she “hijacked” the movie, showing no regard for those who worked on the film.
Jonah confirmed the report when he confronted a user who questioned his father's actions, arguing that Marc had shown no respect for Rachel's right to free speech.
Image credits: Taylor Hill/WireImage/Getty Images
"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 Instagram user said.
The 38-year-old fired back, writing, "You really want to do this?
"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."
Image credits: rachelzegler
He continued: "This is called adult responsibility and accountability And her actions clearly hurt the film's box office.
"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 all 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."
The Disney film had a dismal opening weekend, bringing in $87 million worldwide from a $270-million budget
Image credits: rachelzegler
Image credits: jonahplatt
People were quick to react to Jonah's post, with many questioning the idea that Rachel's messages were the only factor behind the film's fiasco.
"Disney never took the film seriously, so idk why so much of this has been thrown on Rachel," one Redditor wrote.
"Rachel was fine in the film, but once Disney decided the Dwarves needed to be solved by CGI, they should have shelved the project," another said.
A separate observer noted: "The dwarves, hair, costumes, and set designs just look so cheap."
"Honestly.. I think it's kind of hypocritical to pile onto Rachel when Gal Gadot has also been known to put out her political opinion," wrote a fourth user.
"This is called adult responsibility and accountability. And her actions clearly hurt the film's box office," Jonah wrote
Image credits: cosmic_marvel
Others agreed with Jonah's stance. One user said: "She signed a multi-million dollar deal, not a diary entry. You're not oppressed for facing consequences at work like the rest of us. he flew cross-country to clean up a PR fire. Free speech isn't free when you're tanking a $200M Disney movie."
His rant divided Disney fans, who debated whether Rachel was responsible for the movie tanking
According to Variety, there was a fallout between Rachel and Disney executives after she wrote "free Palestine" on X (formerly Twitter) after the trailer's release.
After the message, a Disney employee allegedly spoke to Rachel's team on behalf of the company to voice their concerns, and Marc Platt traveled to New York to try to persuade Rachel to delete the post, which she refused to do.
"She didn't understand the repercussions of her actions as far as what that meant for the film, for Gal, for anyone," said one insider. Gal Gadot is Rachel's co-star, who is Israeli.
Jonah's comments came after a social media user slammed his father, Marc Platt, for asking Rachel to delete a post expressing her political views
Image credits: rachelzegler
According to the publication, Disney had to pay for additional security for Gal after she began facing threats in the midst of the situation.
Tensions escalated three months later when Rachel posted strong words against Trump and his supporters. Concerned her words might alienate half the audience from watching the costly film, Marc spoke to the actress again.
After a back and forth, Rachel reportedly began working with a "social media guru" paid for by the company to scrutinize her posts before the March 21 premiere.
Marc Platt had reportedly flown to New York to try to stop the star's political comments, claiming they would negatively impact the film
Image credits: Disney
Image credits: gal_gadot
The live-action remake had a dismal opening weekend, bringing in $87 million worldwide from a $270-million budget.
Other points of controversy in the film were the use of computer-generated imagery (CGI) for Snow White's Seven Dwarfs instead of hiring actors with dwarfism.
Games of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage argued that the use of CGI reinforced society's negative stereotypes of people with dwarfism.
"They were very proud to cast a Latino actress as Snow White, but you're still telling the story of 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.' Take a step back and look at what you're doing there," he expressed.
Rachel refused to delete her political posts, leading to tensions between her and Disney executives
Image credits: gal_gadot
Additionally, some fans took issue with Rachel's comments about the original Snow White fairytale, which she called "dated.”
The 23-year-old actress said: "There's a big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her. Weird!"
Image credits: rachelzegler
Amid the multiple controversies, Disney scaled back the film's Hollywood premiere. Instead of inviting journalists to interview the cast and rolling out a robust red carpet, as it typically does for its films, the company limited the event to a pre-party and screening at the El Capitan Theatre. Only photographers and house crew attended, along with Gal and Rachel.
Jonah's tirade sparked a variety of opinions on Rachel Zegler and the Disney remake
