Rachel Zegler's "Free Palestine" Tweet Controversy

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BEING JEWISH Your dad flew to NYC to reprimand a young actress? Any words on this? Cuz that's creepy as and uncalled for. People have the right to free speech, no? Shame on your father Reply jonahplatt 2h @brynnd13 You really want to do this? Yeah, my dad, the producer of enormous piece of Disney IP with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, had to leave his family to to fly across the country to reprimand his 20 year old employee for dragging her personal politics into the middle of promoting the movie for which she signed a multi-million dollar contract to get paid and do publicity for. This is called adult responsibility and accountability. And her actions clearly hurt the film's box office. Free speech does not mean you're allowed to say whatever you want in your private employment without repercussions. Tens of thousands of people worked on that film and she hijacked the conversation for her own immature desires at the risk of all the colleagues and crew and blue collar workers who depend on that movie to be successful. Narcissism is not something to be coddled or encouraged. 9 1

Brandon Streussnig @BrndnStrssng Follow I'm sorry but Imao X "She didn't understand the repercu of her actions as far as what that me for the film, for Gal, for anyone," say insider. Variety @Variety After Rachel Zegler hit the stage at Disney's D23 fan event to introduce the first official trailer of "Snow White," she thanked supporters effusively in an X post. One minute later, she added an afterthought in the same thread: "and always remember, free palestine." Many inside

V Variety @Variety After Rachel Zegler hit the stage at Disney's D23 fan event to introduce the first official trailer of "Snow White," she thanked supporters effusively in an X post. One minute later, she added an afterthought in the same thread: "and always remember, free palestine." Many inside the studio expressed shock that the "Snow White" star would commingle the promotion of its $270 million tentpole with any kind of political statement. A Disney executive raised the studio's concerns with Zegler's team, while the film's producer Marc Platt flew to New York to speak directly with her. But Zegler stood her ground, and the post remained. wp.me/pc8uak-1IFARD 1:04 PM · Mar 25, 2025 2.3M Views

Comments brynnd13 8h Your dad flew to NYC to reprimand a young actress? Any words on this? Cuz that's creepy as hell and uncalled for. People have the right to free speech, no? Shame on your father Reply jonahplatt 32m @brynnd13 You really want to do this? Yeah, my dad, the producer of enormous piece of Disney IP with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, had to leave his family to to fly across the country to reprimand his 20. year old employee for dragging her personal politics into the middle of promoting the movie for which she signed a multi-million dollar contract to get paid and do publicity for. This is called adult responsibility and accountability. And her actions clearly hurt the film's box office. Free speech does not mean you're allowed to say whatever you want in your private employment without repercussions. Tens of thousands of people worked on that film and she hijacked the conversation for her own immature desires at the risk of all the colleagues and crew and blue collar workers who depend on that movie to be successful. Narcissism is not something to be coddled or encouraged. 1

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Overview

Rachel Zegler's "Free Palestine" Tweet Controversy refers to the backlash and discussions surrounding the "Free Palestine" tweet by the actress Rachel Zegler at the end of a post thanking fans for watching the live-action Snow White trailer in August 2024. The controversy resurfaced shortly after the film premiered in theaters in mid-March 2025, especially after a Variety article claimed a Disney executive flew to New York to speak directly with her about the post, raising discussions about her animosity toward her Israeli co-star Gal Gadot, whose family has lived in Israel for eight generations. The subject also inspired jokes and memes on Twitter / X, TikTok and Reddit from both supporters and critics of the actress.

Background

On August 12th, 2024, American actress Rachel Zegler thanked her fans for the reception of the live-action Snow White trailer's release in an X post^[1] that was followed by an afterthought tweet minutes later, writing, “and always remember, free Palestine.” The post (seen below) amassed more than 12.2 million views, 137,000 likes and 11,000 replies in a year. Many of the top replies were notably critical or mocking of Zegler's tweet.

Online Reactions

Rachel Zegler’s "free Palestine" post stirred a divisive debate on social media shortly after, including people accusing her of making a subtle attack on her Israeli co-star, Gal Gadot.

For example, on August 13th, 2024, X^[2] user Joel Peltin replied to the actress's tweet, writing, "Disney continues to hire the wrong actors to represent their brand." The post (seen below) received roughly 427,000 views and 7,400 likes in a year.

On August 12th, X^[3] user @HorrorHijabi posted in support of Zegler's pro-Palestine stance, which garnered over 300,000 views and 8,100 likes in a year.

March 2025 Variety Article

On March 25th, 2025, days after the premiere of the Snow White live-action movie, Variety released an article^[5] about the behind-the-scenes aftermath of Rachel Zegler’s "free Palestine" tweet in an X^[4] post, claiming, "a Disney executive raised the studio’s concerns with Zegler’s team, while the film’s producer Marc Platt flew to New York to speak directly with her." Variety's tweet (seen below) garnered more than 23 million views and 58,000 likes in a day.

Variety's article reignited discussion on social media about Zegler’s "free Palestine" post. For instance, on March 25th, 2025, TikTok^[6] user @kaludiasays posted a video reacting to the story (seen below), which amassed more than 982,000 plays and 143,000 likes in a day.

On the same day, Redditor^[7] u/Traditional_Maybe_80 shared a screenshot of Variety's tweet about the "free Palestine" controversy to the /r/Fauxmoi subreddit, writing that "the vibes of the article are kinda off, they low-key blame Rachel for everything and it's weird, because it showcases the idea that being pro-Palestine is a political position, while supporting Israel isn't." The post amassed over 11,000 upvotes and 50 comments in a day.