Rachel Zegler “out of context” video has nothing to do with Snow White backlash

Rachel Zegler in a YouTube video and a still from Disney's Snow WhiteRachel Zegler/Disney

A video of Rachel Zegler seemingly talking about her controversial Snow White comments being taken out of context has, funnily enough, been taken completely out of context.

Everybody knows the story of Disney’s Snow White: a princess exiled by her wicked stepmother, who wishes to be the “fairest one of all”, befriends seven dwarfs and falls in love with a prince who saves her from her eternal slumber.

Well, it seems like the classic fable may be changed a bit for Zegler’s live-action remake. In an earlier interview, the actress spoke about how it’s “no longer 1937” and that “she’s not gonna be saved by the prince… she’s not gonna be dreaming about true love, she’s dreaming about the leader she knows she can be.”

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Despite her comments dating back to September 2022, they recently resurfaced online and became the subject of heated debate (and hatred, among her staunchest critics). However, some have started sharing a video of her apparently addressing the backlash – and it’s just completely false.

Rachel Zegler hasn’t released a video about the Snow White controversy

If you take a look on X/Twitter and TikTok today, you’ll probably see a clip of Zegler supposedly responding to the backlash around her Snow White comments. She hasn’t, as it’s a clip cut from the end of a video she posted on YouTube in June 2022, and it’s being spread by several right-wing accounts and other critics without any clarification of its original source.

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The clip comes from a video titled “I ran away from my problems for 27 hours”, and in the final minutes, Zegler (accurately) predicts that it’ll be taken out of context. “At this point I can’t really stop people from doing that, because that’s what my whole existence on the internet is… which is fine, that’s what I signed up for, isn’t it?” she says.

“I never want it to come off as me being ungrateful for the opportunities I have. When I say this has been the biggest adjustment of my life, like understanding the way my life operates now, being who I am, and the things I have been so fortunate to make… it comes with so much ground that I never thought I’d be able to cover…. so when I tell you that it’s hard, I just mean to be inside my brain – that’s hard.”

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The clip has been shared several times and racked up millions of views over the past day, misleading users by claiming Zegler is directly responding to the criticism. “She hates her Snow White character, and after she came out against the original movie, she is now crying over the backlash,” one user wrote, wrongly.

“Rachel Zegler has had a talking to it seems. You are not being taken out of context. You are being judged for what you literally said,” another wrote, incorrectly. “Rachel Zegler aka Snow Woke makes it so easy to hate her,” a third wrote, nastily. “Rachel Zegler when you’re literally on video saying exactly what people are reporting you said, that whole ‘out of context’ argument goes out the window,” another user tweeted, failing to note how they’ve just taken her clip out of context.

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You can find out more about Zegler’s Snow White controversy here.