Jonah Platt — actor, podcaster and son of blockbuster “Snow White” producer Marc Platt — slammed star Rachel Zegler for “hijacking” the live-action Disney film’s press run and “clearly” hurting its box office with politically driven social media posts.
The remarks, made in a since-deleted Instagram comment, came when one Instagram user, apparently a supporter of Zegler, questioned Jonah about Tuesday reports that his father had flown out to “speak directly” to Zegler over her public support to “Free Palestine” and her well-documented criticisms of the gender dynamics within the original animated film. Instagram user @brynnd13 called the move “creepy as hell and uncalled for.”
“Your dad flew to NYC to reprimand a young actress? Any words on this? Cuz that’s creepy as hell and uncalled for,” she wrote, apparently under a post featuring a promotion of of Jonah and his “Being Jewish” podcast guest Tiffany Haddish that has since disabled comments. “People have the right to free speech, no? Shame on your father.”
Jonah responded by defending his father and admonishing Zegler’s social media behavior that he believes put the success of “Snow White” at risk despite having “hundreds of millions of dollars on the line.”
“You really want to do this? Yeah, my dad, the producer of [an] 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 publicity for,” Jonah wrote. “This is called adult responsibility and accountability. And her actions clearly hurt the film’s box office.”
He continued: “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.”
Representatives for Jonah Platt did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment, and the Instagram user @brynnd13 did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s message request. You can view a screenshot of their since-deleted interaction below:
On Tuesday, a report from Variety detailed behind-the-scenes dramas in the lead-up to the release of Disney’s live-action remake of “Snow White,” which hit theaters Friday. Executive Editor Tatiana Siegel in part wrote that the studio paid for additional security for Israeli actress Gal Gadot (who herself has vocally supported her home country in the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict), hired a social media specialist to work with Zegler and flew Marc Platt to the younger actress to address her political comments.
In August of last year, three days after taking the stage at Disney’s D23 convention in support of “Snow White,” Zegler — previously best-known for Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” and “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” entry to the “Hunger Games” franchise — thanked her fans on X for their continued support before adding in a second comment: “And always remember, free Palestine.”
The actress, now 23, continued to share her social and political views, including writing “F—k Donald Trump” on her personal accounts. Tensions between Disney and Zegler sparked up in 2022 when the actress referred to the film’s animated original “Snow White” as an outdated tale that features a prince who “literally stalks” its title princess.
“The original cartoon came out in 1937 and very evidently so,” she previously told Extra in 2022. “There’s a big focus on her love story with the guy who literally stalks her. Weird, weird. So we didn’t do that this time.”
