Rachel Zegler is unfortunately used to dealing with trolls on social media. She’s also great at shutting them down.
On Monday, an angry X user commented on a picture of Zegler with “someone should kill you” in a since-deleted tweet, according to UNILAD. In response, she wrote, “fun fact i will be dying eight times a week on broadway this fall!!!!! get your tickets, lee! also @FBI.” Reporting a death threat and getting in a plug for Romeo + Juliet on Broadway? Now that’s how you do it.
Zegler, who is of Colombian and Polish descent, is playing “skin white as snow” Snow White in Disney’s live-action remake of the 1937 film, which pissed off the kind of people who make anonymous death threats on X. The West Side Story actress discussed the “nonsensical discourse” around her casting in a conversation with Andrew Garfield for Variety.
“Never in a million years did I imagine that this would be a possibility for me,” she said. “You don’t normally see Snow Whites that are of Latin descent. Even though Snow White is really a big deal in Spanish-speaking countries. Blanca Nieves is a huge icon whether you’re talking about the Disney cartoon or just different iterations and the Grimm fairy tale and all the stories that come with it.”
Zegler continued, “But you don’t particularly see people who look like me or are me playing roles like that. When it was announced, it was a huge thing that was trending on Twitter for days, because all of the people were angry. We need to love them in the right direction. At the end of the day, I have a job to do that I am really excited to do. I get to be a Latina princess.”
Snow White is scheduled to be released on March 21, 2025, while Romeo + Juliet — which also stars Kit Connor — opens in previews on September 26.