Why All The Fuss Over The New 'Snow White' Movie?

Oh, I think you know.

Disney’s live-action Snow White, which opens March 21, will have a relatively low-key premiere on Saturday. This has raised some concerns that Disney isn’t confident about the movie starring Rachel Zegler (West Side Story) and Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman 1984).

The afternoon event will include a pre-party and screening at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, but The Hollywood Reporter suggests that the “studio isn’t allowing regular red carpet press to attend in order to prevent Zegler and Gal Gadot, who plays the Evil Queen, from answering questions on the spot.”

Snow White isn’t the first major film to manage a red carpet in such a restricted way. Warner Bros. did much the same for the world premiere of The Flash, starring the embattled Ezra Miller.

Miller earned the “embattled” modifier after his multiple arrests. They’d pleaded guilty to trespassing a few months before The Flash opened in June 2023. There’s no reason that Disney should fear Zegler and Gadot speaking to reporters in public, especially since most red carpet questions usually center around what the stars are wearing.

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Frozen Precipitation Caucasian

Unfortunately, controversy has surrounded the live-action Snow White ever since Rachel Zegler was first cast. Disney princess scholar Ben Shapiro complained that Zegler somehow wasn’t white enough to play the imaginary character.

“Her name is Snow White. Now you may consider that racist, but that’s also the name of the actual fairy tale,” Shapiro said. “It’s weird casting, you might say. I don’t understand.” (He rarely does.) “There are certain parts that are racially specific. I mean very clearly so.”

Here is a quick, non-comprehensive list of people with the surname “White” who are not in fact white: Barry White, Jaleel White, Derrick White, Michael Jai White, Persia White, DaShaun White, Betty White (just kidding … or am I?).

“‘Skin as white as snow,’” Shapiro went on. “That’s literally in her name, that’s why she has her name.”

It’s true that in the original German fairy tale, Snow White’s mother wishes that she could have “a daughter who had skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood and hair as black as ebony.” This is obviously metaphorical unless she wanted a child with a serious iron deficiency. Snow White should consider pairing her apples with beef and broccoli.

Germans have their own unfortunate history with racial purity, but in the 1937 Disney film, Snow White’s defining trait, which is actually relevant to the plot, is that she’s extremely pretty. On the admittedly subjective “Extremely Pretty” scale, Zegler easily ranks at “god with a side of damn.”

Racism is aggressively stupid anyway, but I guess I have to waste time explaining that Zegler is in fact white, like Vanna and not Barry. Her mother is of Colombian descent and her father is of Polish and Jewish descent.

Snow Woke

Ben Shapiro and literal evil queen Megyn Kelly both criticized Zegler for comments she’d made in 2022 about her version of Snow White, who is fully emancipated.

“She’s not going to be saved by the prince and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love,” Zegler said. “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.”

It’s not exactly “woke” if the female lead in a movie from 2025 actually makes … choices. The 1937 Snow White’s biggest decision was eating a poisoned apple she believed was a “magic wishing apple,” which like Trump’s free IVF treatment doesn’t exist.

The anti-woke mob is somehow shocked and appalled that Zegler was not a fan of the original Snow White. Zegler was born in 2001 and is literally named after Rachel Green from Friends. She probably has some issues with Love Actually.

“There’s a big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her,” she said. “Weird. So we didn’t do that this time. I was scared of the original version. I think I watched it once and never picked it up again.” (The original is legit scary in places, and she doesn’t even mention the non-consensual necrophilia!)

Zegler’s Snow White reportedly doesn’t sing “Someday My Prince Will Come” but instead will perform “Waiting On A Wish,” which Page Six dismisses as a “girl boss anthem” because it’s apparently 1997. That obviously wasn’t Zegler’s choice, but people who’ve consumed too many poison apples insist that Zegler has personally ruined the Disney classic that still exists and I’m sure they have actually watched in the last decade.

Oh, and Zegler has expressed opinions on social media, a Joan of Arc-punishable offense. She posted on August 12, 2024 “and always remember, free palestine,” which led to the predictable charges of antisemitism and active support for Hamas.

Someone later vented on Instagram, “Her first role ever was in Fiddler on the Roof. Literally built her career on the backs of Jews. She can kick rocks.”

“I can’t watch children die,” Zegler told Variety last October. “I don’t think that should be a hot take … We’re nearing one year since the horrendous attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, but I’ve been following this conflict for so many years. Like so many people, I’m so heartbroken by the loss of life that we’re seeing with these insane death tolls coming out of both regions.”

There are reports of tension between Zegler and Gadot, who is Israeli. People with differing political opinions work together all the time. There’s also no evidence that there’s controversy specifically surrounding Gadot’s nationality or that the scaled-back premiere has anything to do with her vocal support for Israel. No, the only legitimate controversy regarding Gadot is that her evil Queen seems a little stiff in the clips I’ve seen. There’s none of the campy fun that Lucille La Verne delivered so well. (Cate Blanchett was definitely on point as Lady Tremaine in Cinderella.)

The so-called “woke” changes to the live-action Snow White might also minimize some unfortunate implications with a Jewish actor playing an evil Queen who’s obsessed with being fairer than her “snow white” step-daughter. The final trailer suggests that the Queen resents Snow White’s literal “fairness” (in the “not a tyrant” sense), and Snow White leads a rebellion to “take back” her homeland from the invader who oppressed everyone. Yikes, I guess there are still some pretty heavy political implications, but hey, just go and enjoy the movie.

The Seven CGI Dwarfs

There were also complaints that the live-action Snow White would not include the historically accurate seven “dwarfs.” Instead, Snow White would crash with magical creatures who are different sizes, genders, and skin colors. This especially offended Megyn Kelly, who blamed actor Peter Dinklage for reportedly convincing Disney not to include the stereotypical “dwarfs.”

“So great job, Peter!” Kelly raved like someone who misses recreational “dwarf” tossing. “You made all your money, you became the most famous dwarf in America, and then you ruined the acting roles that were available for six other dwarves who just want to work as paid actors like you did.”

Actors with dwarfism would probably prefer a more diverse range of potential roles. You can’t make much of a career from specializing in Snow White “dwarfs.” There’s only so much whistling required in today’s cinema.

However, it seems as if Kelly can slightly rejoice because the “magical creatures” in the final cut are now (all white) “dwarfs” again. But they’re CGI, and, well, it doesn’t look good, Joe (an obscure Friends reference in honor of Rachel Zegler’s namesake).

Some actors with dwarfism are rightly upset that Disney didn’t just cast them in a paying role and instead went in the direction that feels like Cats-level of uncanny valley.

The entire point of these live-action Disney remakes, aside from the obvious cash grab, is to update classic stories for a modern audience. When the original Snow White premiered in 1937, women weren’t allowed to serve in the armed forces. Women schoolteachers had to quit their jobs if they got married. “Prince Will Come” seemed like a reasonable career aspiration. But times change, no matter how much right-wingers resent that fact.

I admit I’m not running to see Snow White in theaters because Jinkx Monsoon isn’t playing the Queen and those “magical creatures” have chilled me to my very soul. However, this movie does not deserve the official condemnation of the New York Post editorial board. The president has declared war on Canada! The Post should have better things to do than pursue a vendetta against Snow White because its star doesn’t like Donald Trump. That just makes her a member of the free world.