Disney Princess Promotes Herself in Activist Attire
Rachel Zegler is back in a political controversy, this time after the “Snow White” actress appeared on social media wearing a shirt calling for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to get out of New York City.
Zegler posted an image to her Instagram Stories on Monday wearing a T-shirt carrying the message “ICE out of New York City.” The shirt is sold by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, an organization involved in immigrant and labor advocacy.
The group has received funding from organizations including the Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, Tides, Oxfam and Open Society Foundations, according to publicly available philanthropy records.
For Zegler, the Instagram post continues a pattern of publicly weighing in on contentious political subjects. Her political comments have repeatedly attracted attention alongside the troubled history of Disney’s live-action “Snow White,” in which she played the title character.
The movie became a major financial disappointment following its 2025 theatrical release. Estimates cited by Breitbart News put its losses at approximately $170 million, though calculating a film’s final loss can vary depending on how production, marketing, distribution and other revenues and expenses are counted.
Controversy had surrounded Zegler well before audiences had an opportunity to see the finished movie.
During interviews promoting the remake, Zegler criticized elements of Disney’s original 1937 animated film and its central romance. Her remarks about the prince and the new movie’s different approach to Snow White generated considerable backlash online, helping turn a routine Disney remake into an unusually contentious release.
Politics eventually became part of the story as well.
Following Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election, Zegler posted a series of angry Instagram messages reacting to the result.
“I find myself speechless in the midst of this. Another four years of hatred, leaning us towards a world I do not want to live in,” she wrote.
Her posts became considerably more pointed when she addressed Trump and his supporters directly.
“May Trump supporters and Trump voters and Trump himself never know peace,” Zegler wrote.
She also described the election result as evidence of a “deep, deep sickness in this country” and wrote that “there is no help, no counsel, in any of them.”
Those comments produced another wave of criticism, particularly because Zegler was the lead actress in a major Disney production intended for a broad audience. She subsequently apologized.
“I let my emotions get the best of me,” Zegler wrote in her apology, adding that she was sorry for contributing to “the negative discourse.”