A poison apple has been far from Rachel Zegler’s mind amid the backlash she has received for being a Latina woman playing Disney’s first live-action “Snow White” and the controversy surrounding her vocality towards her support for Palestine.

From fairest of them all to online outrage Zegler has been under fire for quite some time after being announced to play Disney’s Snow White back in June 2021, but is the criticism justified due to Disney’s live-action burn out or has the discourse turned into an unfair wicked witch hunt? 

Zegler first stepped on the scene when she portrayed Maria in Steven Spielburg’s remake of Jerrome Robin’s 1961 film “West Side Story”. Not long after Zegler continued to make her mark on the entertainment industry by successfully landing the role of Lucy Gray Baird in “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” and Anthea in “Shazam: Fury of the Gods”.

However it wasn’t until the 23-year-old actress was announced as Snow White in Disney’s live-action adaptation of the animated film that instead of whistling while she worked, she found herself dodging online criticism. While Zegler has faced much criticism for her portrayal of the character due to her being Colombian descent she has also been very vocal about her support towards Palestine. This led to skepticism about the behind-the-scenes tension between her and her pro-Israel co-star Gal Gadot.

Gadot had also been very vocal online about her support towards Israel and the two allegedly had been separated for the entire press junket portion of the film’s rollout. Disney went as far as to minimize the press at the Los Angeles premiere for both actresses to avoid unwanted questions. 

Amid the backlash, Zegler did not take the criticism by lying down in a glass coffin and instead stood true in her beliefs as a Latina and a Palestine supporter. Zegler fought back on several occasions online against those who criticized her. While many claimed that Zegler “ruined their childhood” by playing the classic animated character she reminded them Snow White had survived poison, curses, and huntsmen and that she would be just fine.

Although the actress fought back against those who deemed her the unfairest in the land, she initially had to issue a few apology statements for being vocal about her thoughts on the original animated film calling it “outdated” and saying that “it doesn’t have the best message”. Zegler took to social media to express that she has nothing but love for the original animation and apologized if she came off as rude or unappreciative of being cast as the character. 

Since then, Zegler has kept quiet on her outward opinions on the original film and any criticism that has come her way. 

Michael Stinson, a film studies professor at City College said his own opinion on the matter.

“Right now she’s a lightning rod in Hollywood,” Stinson said. “I haven’t seen the film yet but what I do believe is that people are always looking for something to complain about and right now she’s what people are complaining about.” 

City College accounting major student Leslie Gomez had a few things to say about the topic.

“With everything changing I don’t think there should be so much backlash with a princess being a different color,” Gomez said. “When kids see a princess they’re going to see a princess they’re not going to see color so it really shouldn’t matter.” 

In a world where animated classics are being retold and reimagined, it seems Snow White’s biggest battle wasn’t with a poison apple, a sleeping curse, a huntsman or an evil queen, but with the traditional expectations of the past. Whether or not Zegler is deemed the fairest in the land the discourse behind the magic was no fairytale and happily ever after is still up for debate.