The West Side Story and Snow White actor Rachel Zegler has apologised after criticising Donald Trump and his supporters.
The 23-year-old, currently starring in Broadway’s re-imagined Romeo + Juliet, had posted a lengthy response to the re-election of Trump and the “four years of hatred” he would bring about in America.
She wrote about a “deep, deep sickness” in the US and said she was terrified to see how many people still support someone who “threatens our democracy”. She also echoed a recent statement made by the singer Ethel Cain, writing: “May Trump supporters and Trump voters and Trump himself never know peace.”
Zegler ended the statement, writing: “Fuck Donald Trump.”
After backlash within conservative corners of the internet, with rightwing pundit Megyn Kelly calling her “a pig”, Zegler released a new statement, writing that she wanted to “sincerely apologise” for what had been said.
“Hatred and anger have caused us to move further and further away from peace and understanding, and I am sorry I contributed to the negative discourse,” she wrote in an Instagram story. “This week has been emotional for so many of us, but I firmly believe that everyone has the right to their opinion, even when it differs from my own. I am committed to contributing positively towards a better tomorrow.”
Zegler is the lead of Disney’s $200m-budgeted live-action take on Snow White starring opposite Gal Gadot, co-written by Greta Gerwig.
The actor, who also led last year’s Hunger Games prequel, previously angered conservatives online by criticising the animated original. In a red carpet interview with Extra, she joked that the original had a “weird” dynamic and was about “a guy who literally stalks” Snow White.
“People are making these jokes about ours being the PC Snow White, where it’s like, yeah, it is – because it needed that,” she also said in a Vanity Fair interview. She said the new film would be less about “dreaming about true love” and more about becoming a leader.
In an interview with the Telegraph, David Hand, whose father was one of the directors of the 1937 version, called the new “woke” take “a disgrace” and “insulting”.
After experiencing delays due to the pandemic and the 2023 actors strike, it is now set to be released in March 2025.
Zegler is one of many celebrities who has expressed dismay with the re-election of Trump. Cardi B said she was “really sad” over the result, while John Cusack wrote that “voting in a convicted felon rapist and Nazi is a sign of deep nihilism”.
