TV & Movies

Rachel Zegler defended from “barbaric” trolls after Snow White backlash

Cameron Frew
Rachel Zegler in The Ballad of Songbirds and SnakesLionsgate

Rachel Zegler’s online orbit is still full of “barbaric” trolls flooding social media with comments vilifying the star after the Snow White controversy – and fans have had enough.

Zegler, who initially found success on YouTube performing covers, rose to fame in the late 2010s after she was chosen to play Maria in Steven Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story.

It was the role of a lifetime for the actress and one that jump-started her Hollywood career. She’s since appeared in Shazam! Fury of the Gods, she’s leading the new Hunger Games prequel, and she’ll also don the dress of Disney’s first princess in a live-action Snow White remake next year.

The latter role is notable, as it’s become the source of perpetual criticism towards Zegler after her comments about the original animated classic went viral.

Rachel Zegler trolls aren’t “normal”

CinemaBlend recently shared an earlier clip from its interview with Zegler for the Shazam sequel, in which she talks about “sobbing her eyes out” anytime she sees kids dressed up as Snow White. She also teases “her version” of the dress, which has since been revealed in a first-look image.

Predictably, the TikTok’s comment section is jam-packed with trolls “hating on her for no reason” – but as one user pointed out, this is par for the course on social media.

“In a few years there will be dozens of think pieces about how Rachel Zegler was treated at the start of her career saying how ‘shameful’ it was & it’ll be the same cycle we went through with Jennifer Lawrence & Anne Hathaway. More young women continue to suffer bc we learn nothing,” Zoë Rose Bryan tweeted.

“These are not just ‘celebrities.’ These are real women – real *young* women – and they should not have to ‘just handle it.’ No human should. It’s barbaric,” she added.

“Girls & women in the spotlight need to be protected because this is not normal behavior to hate someone so much… not caring for a celebrity is normal but mass hatred for someone like this is blatant misogyny and bandwagoning it’s really sick,” another user wrote. “Out of all the celeb hate I’ve seen on social media, this one really stomachs me. Never seen such undeserving hate for somebody who has objectively done literally nothing wrong,” a third wrote.

“I used to try and understand misogyny until I figured out there’s no logic to it, people just want a woman to hate. It doesn’t matter how inoffensive she is, they’ll come up with something,” a fourth wrote.

A Tumblr post detailing why people are wrong about the controversy recently went viral – you can read more about that here.

You can also check out our other coverage of the Snow White backlash below:

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