Rachel Zegler is ‘exceptionally beautiful’ but a ‘spoiled, ungrateful and disconnected brat.’
When I woke up to headlines that John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s son, Sean Ono Lennon, had said the above about Rachel Zegler – as well as commented on her appearance – I felt a renewed sense of bone-deep conviction that we let too many men be famous.
Your dad wrote Imagine so you get to give your unsolicited opinion on the hotness of women you’ve never met? You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one absolutely sick of this s***.
Lennon’s social media remarks are just the latest in what has been a firestorm of controversy surrounding Disney’s Snow White remake – and nepo babies have been right in the centre of the action.
He joins another nepo baby, Snow White producer Mark Platt’s son, Jonah, in taking up too much space in this cultural conversation.
After Zegler tweeted ‘always remember, free Palestine’ in August last year, Variety reported that the producer of the film, Marc Platt, flew to New York to meet with Zegler in an attempt to get her to take the post down, which she allegedly refused.
Then, Jonah Platt wrote an emotional response to a commenter on social media in which he blamed Zegler for the film’s flop, claiming she insisted on ‘dragging her personal politics’ into promoting the movie.
Things couldn’t possibly get messier, right? Wrong!
Ariana DeBose, who starred in West Side Story with Zegler in 2021, posted a quote earlier this week that read, ‘Narcissism is not something to be coddled or encouraged,’ a direct excerpt from Platt’s fiery rant about Zegler.
She later clarified that she did not intend it as criticism on Zegler: ‘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,’ DeBose wrote on her Instagram story Tuesday evening.
‘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.’
DeBose’s misunderstanding is a perfect example of how too much attention is paid to the opinions and statements of men who have done nothing to earn the attention they get.
So how did all this get started? To catch everyone up, Zegler, 23, stars as the titular princess in the new film, while Gal Gadot appears as the Evil Queen. But despite high hopes, Snow White had a dismal start at the box office, amassing just $45million (£34.8m) in the US and $100m (£77.3m) worldwide in its opening weekend.
Then, Variety released a piece that some fans felt unfairly blamed Zegler’s views about President Donald Trump and Palestine for the poor performance.
Not long after, Sean Ono Lennon chimed in with his two cents. In a now-deleted tweet, Lennon, 48, whose bio reads: ‘Mega Nepo Baby’ wrote: ‘Both Gal Gadot AND Rachel Zegler are exceptionally beautiful women. Some of y’all are bugging.’
An X user replied to Lennon defending Zegler, as they said: ‘Both actresses are good performers, yet Zegler does not deserve the vilification that Variety and a lot of Disney “fan boys” are constantly giving her.’
Then Lennon added: ‘I agree the vilification went too far. But she also acts like a spoiled, ungrateful and disconnected brat. So it’s no surprise.’
Not only is there nothing more grating than a man snidely explaining, ‘Sorry, how women look actually does matter!’ but it’s bitterly funny for a man born into the kind of wealth and privilege Lennon was to call someone else ‘disconnected.’
So how did Jonah Platt get involved?
In the aftermath of Variety’s report, a social media commenter posted on Platt’s Instagram saying : ‘Your dad flew to NYC to reprimand a young actress about this? Any words on this? Cuz that’s creepy as hell and uncalled for. People have the right to free speech, no? Shame on your father.’
Jonah penned a whiny response, which he later deleted, but according to The Hollywood Reporter it read: ‘Yeah, my dad, the producer of enormous piece of Disney IP with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, had to leave his family to fly across the country to reprimand his 20 year old employee for dragging her personal politics into the middle of promoting the movie for which she signed a multi-million dollar contract to get paid and do publicity for.’
He added: ‘This is called adult responsibility and accountability. And her actions clearly hurt the film’s box office.’
Between Lennon and Platt, one has to wonder why these men are qualified to share their opinions at all.
Lennon’s X post has hundreds of interactions and is being widely discussed online, while Platt’s statement has been published in nearly every major publication.
And make no mistake, what Platt so condescendingly called shirking ‘adult responsibility’ and Lennon labelled acting like a ‘spoiled brat’ is free speech, plain and simple.
Platt is correct that ‘free speech does not mean you’re allowed to say whatever you want’ without ‘repercussions.’ Still, it looks to me like a mega-corporation attempting to shut down an actress’s ability to advocate for causes she believes in.
What Platt implied in his post is that Zegler should take the money she was given to play Snow White and keep her mouth shut to avoid putting Disney’s investment in jeopardy.
Lennon seems to feel similarly, acting as though it’s somehow ‘ungrateful’ for Zegler to use her platform to express her politics.
Neither Lennon nor Platt mentioned that Zegler has weathered her share of ugliness, with controversy surrounding the film beginning nearly four years ago when the actress, who is of Colombian descent, faced racist backlash after she was cast as Disney’s original princess, most famous for having ‘skin as white as snow.’
But this didn’t receive as much of the blame for the film’s failure as Zegler’s refusal to just shut up and look pretty, as it seems men like Platt and Lennon would prefer she do.
As I prepared to write a piece about this pair of Daddy’s boys and their bad online takes, I couldn’t help but feel hesitant to further platform their opinions.
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They have a right, as much as Zegler, to share their views on anything they see fit. But the only reason we even know about them is their famous and powerful parents.
What makes a culture interesting is diversity: Diversity of lived experience, diversity of opinion, and diversity of intersectional identity.
If nepo babies like Lennon and Platt think Rachel Zegler – an accomplished artist who has every right to use her platform as she sees fit – doesn’t deserve the influence she has, how can they possibly justify their own loud voices?
Maybe it’s time we let the nepo babies shout into the void until they can prove they have something valuable to say. Unfortunately, that day is not today.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing James.Besanvalle@metro.co.uk.
Share your views in the comments below.
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