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Ariana DeBose deletes post appearing to criticise Rachel Zegler amid Snow White controversy

2 April 2025, 15:14 | Updated: 2 April 2025, 16:30

Ariana DeBose has issued a statement after deleting a post about her former costar Rachel Zegler. Picture: Getty/Instagram

By Capital Buzz

Ariana DeBose says she didn't realise the quote she posted on Instagram was criticism directed at former West Side Story co-star Rachel Zegler.

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Ariana DeBose has responded after unknowingly sharing a post which appeared to criticise her former West Side Story co-star Rachel Zegler amid the ongoing controversy surrounding Snow White.

Over the past few weeks, Disney's latest live-action film has faced several different controversies. Most recently, the son of the film's producer, Jonah Platt, took aim at Rachel in an Instagram comment for bringing her "personal politics" into the promo for Snow White.

Jonah, who is the son of producer Marc Platt, blamed the film's failure to take off at the box office on the star's political views. Snow White had a production budget between $240 million and $270 million but debuted in its first weekend with a domestic box office of $42.2 million.

Now, Ariana DeBose has accidentally found herself involved in the ongoing controversy after sharing a quote from Jonah's Instagram comment slamming Rachel.

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Rachel Zegler in Snow White. Picture: Alamy

In his lengthy comment about Rachel, Jonah also wrote: “Narcissism is not something to be coddled or encouraged.”

And it was this line that Ariana shared to her Instagram story, apparently unaware that it was about her former co-star.

Ariana's post led to a torrent of backlash from fans, with some calling out the actress out for targeting Rachel.

She later deleted the post and shared a statement claiming that she hadn't looked into where the quote had come from before she shared it.

She wrote: “I post quotes all the time and thought this one was meaningful. Will fully cop to the fact I did not do any research on where this quote came from nor did I know of the connection until it was pointed out to me.

“I have no intention of inserting myself into a news cycle. This is not the first time I’ve posted about dealing with narcissism and it probably won’t be the last, but next time I’ll be sure to clarify its origins first."

Rachel Zegler and Ariana DeBose were in West Side Story together. Picture: Alamy

Ariana appeared alongside Rachel in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation in West Side Story, which was Rachel's breakout role.

Rachel has not commented on the ongoing controversy surrounding the Disney adaptation.

It's not the first time the Snow White film has found itself caught up in controversy either, as it's also recently faced backlash for using CGI dwarves instead of real actors.