Actor Pedro Pascal faces severe online criticism after publicly expressing support for Rachel Zegler – who remains at the center of public controversy following the commercial failure of Disney's live-action remake of "Snow White."
The new version of "Snow White," directed by Marc Webb and starring Zegler as the princess, struggled at global box offices, earning only $143.1 million against a reported production and marketing budget of $350 million. The film also received a low score of 41% from critics on the movie and series rating site Rotten Tomatoes and an even more embarrassing rating of 1.6/10 on IMDB.
While Pascal and Zegler have never worked together, the star of series "The Last of Us," "Narcos," and "Game of Thrones" and box office hits like "Gladiator 2" has previously praised her Golden Globe-winning performance as Maria in "West Side Story" and even revealed in 2022 that he burst into tears while watching her.
On Sunday, Pascal, who will celebrate his 50th birthday on Wednesday, posted a photo of Zegler on his Instagram stories with the caption "@rachelzegler #icon." The gesture immediately sparked criticism online, with users quickly connecting the contractual relationships of both actors with Disney to what many saw as insensitive support. "Both work for Disney. Both get money from Disney," one user wrote on X, questioning Pascal's motives.
Others accused him of being out of touch with reality, with one commenter writing, "Icon? No. How about fired? How about 'blacklisted'? How about 'failure'?" Additional users even speculated that Pascal's public support could harm his future projects, including his anticipated role in Marvel's "Fantastic Four."
Pascal also faced criticism for the gap between his support for Zegler and his lack of public backing for his "The Mandalorian" co-star, Gina Carano. Carano was fired from the series in 2021 following controversial social media posts in which she compared, among other things, the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany to the persecution of Republicans in the United States today – and is suing Disney and Lucasfilm for wrongful termination and gender discrimination, with the trial expected to begin on September 25. "Where was his support for Gina Carano?" one user wrote, while another commented, "Remember how he threw Gina Carano under the bus?"
Pascal, who like Zegler doesn't hide his pro-Palestinian views, isn't the only celebrity who has expressed support for her, despite the harsh criticism she has faced since being cast. As you may recall, Zegler got into trouble with a series of problematic statements about the film alongside a pro-Palestinian tweet that required increased security around Gal Gadot, and also led to harsh criticism from celebrities, including Jonah Platt, son of film producer Marc Platt, and Sean Ono Lennon, son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. In contrast, Zegler revealed that she received support from actresses such as Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu, as well as Ariana Grande, in addition to pro-Palestinian actress Melissa Barrera (who was fired from "Scream 7" following her pro-Palestinian posts) and singer Ethel Cain who wrote to her online, "Don't let them break you, legend."
