It’s been quite a lift for Disney to get its latest movie off the ground. “Snow White,” the live-action remake of its most famous and beloved animated classic, has been shrouded in controversy almost from the get-go.

When publicity photos were leaked in July 2023, it sparked a firestorm, and potential audiences were in an uproar. Why? Because the film cast a Latina actress to play Snow White. While beautiful in her own right, she is not the “skin as white as snow” princess from the original fairytale and animated film. Furthermore, the seven dwarfs were “magical creatures” of various genders, heights, and races.

None of this in and of itself is especially worthy of outrage — Disney can use its intellectual property as it sees fit. However, when one considers the political climate from a few years ago — we were at the height of critical race theory (CRT) and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) messaging — it appeared that Disney, in choosing to cast a minority actress and seven dwarfs “magical creatures,” was directly censuring American audiences.

People have had enough of Disney’s proselytizing.

Disney’s seemingly race-baiting tactic backfired spectacularly. The film’s release was delayed until 2025 (“Snow White” hits most theaters tomorrow) because it introduced computer-generated dwarfs to, hopefully, appease its audience. However, that wasn’t to be the end of the backlash.

Rachel Zegler

First and foremost, Disney’s choice for the titular role, Rachel Zegler, has been the main source of its headache. Zegler had mostly flown under the radar for her comments about the film until July 2023. After the publicity pictures leaked, two other videos surfaced of her from Disney’s D23 Expo in 2022, and they did not help audiences feel any better about the direction that Disney had decided to take the film.

She first slammed the 1937 film by saying, “I just mean that it’s no longer 1937. … She’s not going to be saved by the prince, and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love. She’s dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be and the leader that her late father told her that she could be if she was fearless, fair, brave, and true.”

Zegler then doubled down on the comments by calling the original prince a stalker and intimating that the love interest in her film’s scenes might get cut out completely.

Disney is trying a really interesting marketing strategy where the star of the new Snow White spends a year before the movie’s release publicly talking about how much she despises Snow White

pic.twitter.com/DlQCUqbqnQ

— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) August 13, 2023

More than a year later, in August 2024, Zegler was in the news again for posting a “free Palestine” message on her social media. This may seem like a petty thing to get worked up over — after all, so many other leftist glitterati are pulling the same stunts — but there’s more to the story. Zegler plays Snow White in the remake, but actress Gal Gadot, who is most famous for her role as “Wonder Woman,” plays the Evil Queen. Gadot is Israeli and served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). As one would expect, she has been righteously vocal in support of her country after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks. More on Gadot in a moment.

The final nail in Zegler’s coffin was when the starlet posted an Instagram rant in which she fulminated, “May trump supporters and trump voters and trump himself never know peace” (grammar in the original). She later apologized, but the damage was already done.

Finally, we fast-forward to this week. On Zegler’s Instagram Monday, she posted photos of herself with a vintage hairstyle and posed arms in an attempt to pay homage to the late great Adriana Caselotti, who was the original Snow White actress. Commenters weren’t kind. The common thread was that Zegler paying homage to the 1937 iconic film and its princess just days before the live-action release was too little, too late.

Gal Gadot

The person who is making leftists upset is the aforementioned Jewish actress, Gal Gadot. Because of her activism in advocating for the release of the Hamas hostages and her bravery in standing up to the rising anti-Semitism in Hollywood, they have labeled her as the reason why the film is in jeopardy.

Zegler stirs the controversy, but Gadot is the problem? This is entirely ridiculous.

As a result of the two actresses’ divergent views on the Israel/Gaza war, there are rumors swirling that there is tension between them. This seemed to be confirmed when both actresses promoted the film separately from one another.

The Low-Key Premiere

Due to the culminating flack from both sides of the political aisle, Disney opted for a quiet premiere at the El Capitan Theatre with only a few attendees and hand-selected reporters. This is clearly a move by Disney to prevent any more embarrassment.

Final PSA

Our brave “Pop Culture Contrarian” podcast team will be going to watch “Snow White” so you don’t have to. Our Thomas Gallatin, part of that team, will submit his review for your reading pleasure early next week, and the intrepid crew will dissect the film and answer the question that has been on all of our minds: “Is it woke?” The answer is likely yes, but there’s always a chance that Disney will surprise us.