Live-Action ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’

[Vegas Disney Fan]

According to Carano’s own complaint, Disney and Lucasfilm asked her to apologize on several occasions, which she refused to do.

I’m sure Disney had the same talk with Zegler, hence the apology.

I think that makes the situations dissimilar enough to warrant disparate treatment.

What’s inconsistent are those supporting Carano’s lawsuit while shaming Disney for not firing Zegler, especially when filming has already wrapped.

Definitely a factor, Gina complied and backtracked the first several times she made controversial posts also, I think the final straw for her was when they tried to make her go to sensitivity training, it makes me wonder how many chances Zegler will get before Disney asks her to go to some type of training also, and if/when they do if she’ll resist too.

 

[LittleBuford]

They could almost release the exact same statement for Zegler they used to Gina.

For Gina the Disney statement was

“Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”

For Zegler a consistent statement would have been:

“Rachel Zegler is not currently employed by Disney and there are no plans for her to be in the future, her social media posts denigrating people based on their social and political identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”

Fair enough, Disney could have done that. But perhaps, in light of the information provided just now by @Stripes, they gave her the option to apologise first and she took it.

 

[LittleBuford]

Hence my phrasing…

There are certain celebrities that have intelligent things to say.

Well, I was responding to the “most things” part (which may well be true, but if it’s true of celebrities, I should think it’s true of everyone).

Anyway, it seems we’re largely on the same page.

 

[Stripes]

Fair enough, Disney could have done that. Perhaps, in light of the information provided just now by @Stripes, they gave her the option to apologise first and she took it.

There are certain business considerations as well. I believe Mandalorian Season 2 had already been released when they made the statement. The financial benefits had largely been accrued already. Drawing more attention to the controversy by issuing a statement about Zegler is not something Disney is likely to do prior to the completion of the film’s run at the box office.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

I think the lesson to everyone should be if you’re going to comment on even slightly controversial topics do it under pseudonyms like Vegas Disney Fan, or LittleBuford, or Chi84, or Stripes (just using the most recent posts) so it doesn’t get your employers attention.

 

[Chi84]

Definitely a factor, Gina complied and backtracked the first several times she made controversial posts also, I think the final straw for her was when they tried to make her go to sensitivity training, it makes me wonder how many chances Zegler will get before Disney asks her to go to some type of training also, and if/when they do if she’ll resist too.

Another factor (I keep pointing out) is the employment relationship. Disney is pretty much done with Zegler and can even release her from any obligation to promote the film if they want. She made ill-advised comments, then disavowed and apologized for them.

With Carano, there was an ongoing relationship as well as (I believe) some type of spin-off in the works. She refused to apologize and doubled-down by resisting sensitivity training. Disney had ongoing contractual obligations to Carano that had to be either fulfilled or severed.

Disney has the option to simply choose not to rehire Zegler, but they had to do something one way or another with Carano.

 

[donaldtoo]

Whatever’s going on, I hope there’s an end to it soon.

See, they let us wear ourselves out…!!!

 

[Stripes]

Another factor (I keep pointing out) is the employment relationship. Disney is pretty much done with Zegler and can even release her from any obligation to promote the film if they want. She made ill-advised comments, then disavowed and apologized for them.

With Carano, there was an ongoing relationship as well as (I believe) some type of spin-off in the works. She refused to apologize and doubled-down by resisting sensitivity training. Disney had ongoing contractual obligations to Carano that had to be either fulfilled or severed.

Disney has the option to simply choose not to rehire Zegler, but they had to do something one way or another with Carano.

Yet another factor is that Zegler has ongoing projects with Netflix and A24 as well, which makes things even more complicated. Carano didn’t have anything except Star Wars.

Disney would want to partner with both of those companies and make sure they issued similar statements at the same time.

 

[Farerb]

I don't think Disney expected Rachel to be such a handful before hiring her. She received praise for West Side Story, she seemed like a promising young star and they never had issues with their young actors before (Auliʻi Cravalho and Halle Bailey have always been graceful). I think had they known that this is how things would go, they would have hired someone else, but now they aren't going to change a film that's basically already finished and ready to go in four months.

Anyway, rumor has it that the trailer is supposed to be released this upcoming week.

 

[Stripes]

I don't think Disney expected Rachel to be such a handful before hiring her. She received praise for West Side Story, she seemed like a promising young star and they never had issues with their young actors before (Auliʻi Cravalho and Halle Bailey have always been graceful). I think had they known that this is how things would go, they would have hired someone else, but now they aren't going to change a film that's basically already finished and ready to go in four months.

Anyway, rumor has it that the trailer is supposed to be released this upcoming week.

Regardless of what Disney does or doesn’t do in public, there’s no doubt that they aren’t happy with this situation.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Anyway, rumor has it that the trailer is supposed to be released this upcoming week.

Having it play in front of Wicked, another musical fantasy, makes sense...along with the views it would get in front of Moana 2.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

They could almost release the exact same statement for Zegler they used to Gina.

For Gina the Disney statement was

“Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”

For Zegler a consistent statement would have been:

“Rachel Zegler is not currently employed by Disney and there are no plans for her to be in the future, her social media posts denigrating people based on their social and political identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”

These comparisons get dicey.

Also: a public break right now harms the film.

You don’t fire someone in the middle of a job when they still have access to make a scene, cause more harm, etc. You wait until the end of their shift and then fire them.

 

[LittleBuford]

It's not the statement itself. It's the context in which it was written and the likes to posts that disparage Gadot.

This accusation has more weight to it. It does seem that she is treating her costar as a target of her messaging, which is wrong and problematic.

 

[Brian]

That’s objectively wrong.

You can argue it was not advisable, but “wrong” is subjective.

It is objectively wrong to goad your Israeli and Jewish co-star when you're the leading lady of a hundreds of millions of dollars film. Why? As to the former, you should have respect for your co-star to not goad them publicly during a time when their fellow countrymen are under attack, and as to the latter, it does nothing but create animosity with those who find your position to be wrong, which harms the film and the studio.

For the purposes of this discussion, I am not saying that her position is objectively wrong. I'm saying that her publicly stating it in the context of her co-star is objectively wrong.

 

[TP2000]

I just want to point out again that Disney cannot fire Zegler at this stage.

I'm not an expert on this (as you know, I've made it very clear that I'm not an expert on anything except cocktail recipes and Disneyland trivia), but how does it work when a studio is launching/premiering a big movie and needs to use its starring actress in that publicity?

Rachel Zegler is the star of the upcoming tentpole movie Snow White. She is, literally, Snow White. There will be a press tour, endless interviews on TV and websites, a big splashy premiere and party at the El Capitan or Chinese Theater. Rachel Zegler will be the star of the show this February and March. So how does Miss Zegler not still work for Disney? Can Disney uninvite her to the premiere? Can Miss Zegler refuse to attend? And at what point do Disney's lawyers get involved in forcing her to be a part of the movie's publicity tour and marketplace launch?

I'm trying to imagine a Jungle Cruise Skipper who has a social media presence and/or podcast where he talks about working for Disneyland and being a CM and doing his gig of Jungle Cruise Skipper. And everyone knows his real name and who he is outside of work, and Disneyland fans get their picture taken with him when he's at work at Disneyland. And then on November 6th he posts to his popular Jungle Cruise themed Instagram feed “May Trump supporters and Trump voters never know peace.”

How would Disney and Disneyland management react to that? Does that Skipper get to keep his job? If not, why?

I'm struggling to see how Rachel Zegler ever gets another gig with Disney after the multiple messes over several years she has created for herself and her generous employer. But that she will likely still be involved in the publicity and premiere of this upcoming tentpole movie in March really confuses me. How? Why? And why can't these movie studios control their paid talent better?

If it can't be done by a Jungle Cruise Skipper, why can Rachel Zegler get away with it?

 

[LittleBuford]

If it can't be done by a Jungle Cruise Skipper, why can Rachel Zegler get away with it?

Good old capitalism.

 

[Brian]

Still subjective - even if almost everyone agrees with you.

Almost everyone agrees that 2 + 2 = 4. There are some who believe that is not the case. That doesn't mean that 2 + 2 = 4 is anything other than objectively true. At what point does consensus become reality?

 

[Brian]

Then perhaps you should be more considerate and specific in the language you use. After all, isn’t the issue of brash and reductive rhetoric what started this whole conversation off?

Palestine is governed by Hamas, as they were elected by the Palestinian people in 2006 after Israel pulled out of the Gaza strip. Therefore, I think it's fair to at least refer to Hamas as Palestinian, much in the same way that you would refer to Republicans and Democrats as Americans, since they are both American by allegiance.

If a country controlled by a particular political party/entity does something, it's not generally the political party that is cited, it's the country.

 

[TP2000]

Good old capitalism.

I'm not sure what that would have to do with it.

The answer seems to lie within employment policies that are either purposely inequitable, or simply ignored, at will by Disney's senior leadership teams.

Is there even a social media policy for movie stars in Disney's tentpole films? There's got to be a social media policy for Park CM's and the custodians that clean the Burbank campus and the cubicle drones that push out TPS reports every Thursday.

But there's also the issue that Miss Zegler will still be working for Disney this February and March as part of the publicity and global launch of the $350+ Million investment the company made in Snow White. Disney has simply got to rethink how they control their "stars", because whatever the current agreement is with Rachel Zegler isn't working.

 

[donaldtoo]

See, they let us wear ourselves out…!!!