Disney Made Rachel Zegler Work With Social Media Guru After Gal Gadot Death Threats: REPORT

Snow White just can’t catch a break…

The latest Disney live-action remake has been drowning in controversy since before filming even started — and it hasn’t helped at the box office. That’s what happens when you cast Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot — two actors who attract a ton of hate for a myriad of reasons AND are on opposite sides of one of the biggest debates in world politics.

Rachel was already on Disney fans’ naughty list for her comments about the OG animated film… and Gal has been hated ever since that COVID lockdown Imagine video… But it was the Israel-Palestine conflict that really lit the fuse on this box office bomb.

On Tuesday, an insider spoke to Variety about how things really started to descend into chaos for the Mouse House last summer. You may recall Rachel attending D23 to promote the film in August — shortly after which, she thanked her followers on X (Twitter) for supporting the film by watching its trailer. She then followed up the tweet with one that polarized audiences amid the Israel/Palestine conflict… She wrote:

“and always remember, free palestine.”

and always remember, free palestine.

— rachel zegler (she/her/hers) (@rachelzegler) August 12, 2024

Many have celebrated the 23-year-old’s relentless advocacy for the nation as brave — after all, we’re talking about a conflict Amnesty International has defined as genocide. Obviously those supporting Israel’s actions are some of her biggest critics (along with some Disney adults and the anti-woke incel crowd). One person who we know doesn’t see eye-to-eye with her? Her Israeli co-star, who has been unreservedly supportive of her country’s government as a former IDF soldier. And their feud has had Disney trying to put out fires since back then!

According to the insider, the film’s producer Marc Platt flew to New York to speak in person with Rachel, pretty much begging her to delete the tweet. But she refused! At the same time, criticism of pro-Israel Gal reached new peaks as she reportedly received death threats. The insider claimed:

“[Rachel] didn’t understand the repercussions of her actions as far as what that meant for the film, for Gal, for anyone.”

They blamed Rachel for Gal getting hate? That seems pretty unfair. She never even mentioned her co-star. And this isn’t some personal beef, it’s a world event that has some pretty firmly drawn sides outside of this Disney dispute.

While Rachel may not be to blame for how folks feel about Gal and her ideology, she did piss off the higher-ups again… by putting a target on her own head!

Three months later, after the election, Rachel posted on Instagram, “F**k Donald Trump” adding:

“May Trump supporters … never know peace”

At that point, the insider says, Disney became fed up as they were already paying for extra security for Gal and now perceived Rachel to be alienating half of the audience of their huge, very expensive new movie. And one thing Disney WON’T let you do: mess with their bag.

Platt once again pleaded with her to play ball — the ball in this case being the bouncing Mickey Mouse head reminding you which words to sing.

Just as we guessed, Rachel DID start working with a social media guru on Disney’s dime to prevent any more inflammatory posts from being sent out… at least prior to the film’s release. But as we saw over the weekend, the damage may have already been done. Snow White cost $270 million to produce — and opened to just $87 million WORLDWIDE. It’s an enormous flop.

Many are pointing to the politics. After all, likability of a movie’s stars is a huge factor. Palestine supporters didn’t want to see it because of Gal, Zionists AND conservatives didn’t want to see it because of Rachel — not to mention the Disney diehards who never got over her initial Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs comments. So pretty much no one saw it — at least not enough people for a movie with this much money sunk into it!

Obviously there are other things — like Disney live action remake fatigue, the folks who just didn’t think this one looked good, Tywin Lannister stans who never forgave Peter Dinklage… OK, we made up that last one. The point is, there are a lot of forces you’re already fighting to get a movie to be a hit — and Disney was NOT happy about having to deal with stuff that was out of their control. Because not even their magic can solve peace in the Middle East.

Yeesh! Did YOU go see Snow White, Perezcious readers?? Will you ever? Let us know in the comments down below.

[Images via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/YouTube & MEGA/WENN]