“I’ve said what I feel, and that will always be a testament to my core beliefs as a human,” the “West Side Story” actress said of her pro-Palestine social media post.

Rachel Zegler opens up about Snow White backlash: ‘Temptation to speak doesn’t always mean that it must be done’

"I've said what I feel, and that will always be a testament to my core beliefs as a human," the "West Side Story" actress said of her pro-Palestine social media post.

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

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March 10, 2026 4:58 p.m. ET

Rachel Zegler in 'Snow White'. Credit:

- Rachel Zegler said it was "really confusing" to receive backlash for her Colombian heritage when she was cast as Snow White.

- The actress stands by her pro-Palestine politics that led to further controversy: "I've said what I feel, and that will always be a testament to my core beliefs."

- Zegler also said that the controversy that stemmed from her political positions served as a "complete study in intent versus impact."

Rachel Zegler is reflecting on the controversy surrounding her *Snow White* film.

The *West Side Story* actress discussed the multiple waves of backlash she received as a result of Disney's 2025 live-action remake of 1937's *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs* in a new interview with *Harper's Bazaar*.

The first round of backlash came after conservatives criticized Disney for hiring Zegler, whose mother is Colombian American, to play a princess depicted as white in the original animated film. That controversy felt somewhat familiar to Zegler, as she'd already faced the inverse criticism for playing the Puerto Rican protagonist Maria in *West Side Story* despite her father being white.

"I was told I wasn't enough of one thing for *West Side Story* and too much of another for *Snow White*," Zegler told the outlet, noting that it was "really confusing" to receive that criticism in her early twenties.

Rachel Zegler in New York City on Feb. 12, 2026.

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

"I grew up proud of being Colombian," she said. "Eating the food, wearing the dresses, drinking the coffee, doing all the things that were so intrinsic to who I was as a kid and who I am as an adult — but I do think there's an argument to be made that, in the public eye at least, when you're two things, you're simultaneously nothing. But I refuse to assimilate for anybody else's comfort."

That position stands in contrast to the experience of her mother, who grew up "in an era of assimilation being a tactic for survival" in the United States. "It was the experience of so many people in my family: the idea that you will get a job, you will be American, and that's how you survive — that's the only way you're guaranteed a future."

Ariana DeBose deletes post quoting criticism of 'West Side Story' costar Rachel Zegler

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Zegler was the target of further online vitriol after posting in support of Palestinian rights as she began promoting *Snow White* in 2024. The actress has no interest in retracting her comments. "I've said what I feel, and that will always be a testament to my core beliefs as a human," Zegler said. "That's where I stand."

However, the actress said that the controversy served as "a complete study in intent versus impact" for her. "You live and you learn, and there's a caution that comes with that," Zegler said. "There's an understanding that the temptation to speak doesn't always mean that it must be done, and that there are a lot of opportunities to make more meaningful change than a tweet."

Rachel Zegler in 'Snow White'.

Courtesy of Disney

She also noted that she did not expect the magnitude of the backlash. "If I'd been able to predict everything that would come my way, the threats to my safety, I would have just thrown my phone into the ocean," she said. "I think any sane person would have."

To lift her spirits, Zegler hung out with her *Shazam: Fury of the Gods* costars Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu, who shared "long conversations about what it means to be a woman in this industry, and the disappointments they both faced at times" with her, noting their emphasis on how important it is to "show up for other women" in Hollywood.

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That advice led Zegler, who headlined 2023's *The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes*, to contact Whitney Peak, the actress leading the franchise's next installment, *Sunrise on the Reaping*.

"I reached out to say, 'I'm here, even though I hope to God you don't need me,'" she said. "And the next time a woman of color is cast as a Disney princess, I'll be there with bells on to support them, to lift them up, to advise and to tell them what not to do."

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