Disney’s “Snow White” Woes Continue as Podcaster Jonah Platt Comes Out Swinging Against Actress Rachel Zegler

Psst, heard any good Snow White jokes lately?

By now, it’s not really a matter of whether Disney’s ill-advised live-action remake of their classic 1937 animated film Snow White will be a box-office bomb or not, but rather a question of just how big of a bomb it will wind up as. The debate on what precisely went wrong has landed on at least one thing we can all apparently agree on: Actress Rachel Zegler’s (A.K.A. the 21^st Century version of Snow White) inability to stay off social media platforms with her sometimes polarizing points of view from things ranging from politics (always a sticky subject to navigate in this day and age) to her somewhat negative feelings about the original Walt Disney motion picture which is rightly considered one of the best films of all time. Is it alright to have opinions on these subjects, even if they go against popular tide? Sure, and absolutely, as long as you’re not leading a major tentpole Hollywood family friendly production where your opinions could potentially isolate filmgoers whose views might not precisely align with yours. It’s this inability to view the entire picture and take into consideration other thoughts and feelings that may differ from your own which has made the Snow Whitefracas something even bigger than any run-of-the-mill box-office flop. In fact, it’s turned a funhouse mirror onto our own times and mores and, if nothing else, has underlined how divided we’ve all become.

The Hollywood Reporter weighed in on the continuing fallout of theatrical dud Snow White recently, bringing to light podcaster Jonah Platt’s – son of Snow White producer Marc Platt – dissatisfaction with how 23-year-old starlet Rachel Zegler has conducted herself while representing Disney’s evergreen property. This staunch defense of his father’s work on the film came about because of a troll-like comment on social media (one of the most ironically named bailiwicks ever), calling his father’s attempts to tamper down Zegler’s comments and actions “creepy as hell.” As you might imagine, this did not sit well with the junior Platt.

In a succinct rebuttal, Jonah Platt defended his father’s actions, saying “You really want to do this? Yeah, my dad, the producer of enormous piece of Disney IP with hundreds of millions on the line, had to leave his family 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.”

Disney’s new live-action version of Snow White is playing at a theatre near you. Check it out -or not – while you still can.