Gal Gadot walks back remarks on anti-Israel bias tanking Snow White

When the trailer was released and the publicity campaign for Snow White began, many on social media accused Gadot of complicity in what they termed various war crimes in Gaza.

Gal Gadot issued a clarification on Sunday following viral remarks she made on the Keshet 12 show, The A Talks, to a group of interviewers on the autism spectrum last week about how she felt anti-Israel sentiment had been a major reason why the new Disney live-action Snow White, in which she co-starred, flopped.

Speaking in Hebrew on an Israeli show, the Israeli actress turned Hollywood superstar seemed far less guarded than in international interviews. Posting on her Instagram story in English over the weekend, she wrote, “I was honored to join an extraordinary interview with inspiring interviewers, whose questions go straight to the heart. Sometimes we respond to questions from an emotional place. When the film came out, I felt that those who are against Israel criticized me in a very personal, almost visceral way. They saw me first and foremost as an Israeli, not as an actress. That’s the perspective I spoke from when I answered the question.”

Adding to her clarification, she wrote, “Of course, the film didn’t fail solely because of external pressures. There are many factors that determine why a film succeeds or fails, and success is never guaranteed.”

While Disney movies, especially their live-action remakes of cartoon originals tend to make big money, Snow White cost nearly $270 million to make and took in just about $205 million at the box office. It lost even more money when promotional costs were factored in.

The movie received mostly negative reviews, with only 39% of critics praising it, according to the website, Rotten Tomatoes. Among the criticisms were that the romance between the heroine (Rachel Zegler) and the prince was downplayed in favor of a more socially conscious story about a people’s rebellion against the Evil Queen (Gadot). There were also criticisms of the portrayal of the seven dwarves.

But political considerations did come into play as the film was promoted. Zegler, who has posted many pro-Palestine messages on her social media, was rumored to be feuding with Gadot and disparaged her as a “professional pageant queen,” referring to the fact that Gadot represented Israel in the Miss Universe pageant in 2004. But Gadot put that rumor to rest in her A Talks interview, claiming the two enjoyed working together.

Accusations of complicity in war crimes in Gaza

But more to the point, when the trailer was released and the publicity campaign for Snow White began in earnest, many on social media accused Gadot, 40, who served in the IDF decades ago as a martial-arts instructor, of complicity in what they termed various war crimes in Gaza. The BDS movement called for a boycott of the film and the premiere was scaled down for reasons that Disney never made clear.

This was the background of Gadot’s remarks on The A Talks, in which she said, “I was sure that this movie was going to be a huge success, and then October 7 happened, and what’s happening in all kinds of industries, and also in Hollywood, is that there’s a lot of pressure on celebrities to speak out against Israel. You can always explain and try to give people in the world a context about what’s happening and what the reality is here, but in the end, people decide for themselves. I was disappointed that the movie was greatly affected by that and didn’t do well at the box office.”

Gadot also shared her philosophy of life with her interviewers and made it clear that she had already bounced back from the failure of Snow White: “Run forward. Even if you fall, fail, or face bad reviews – just keep moving forward.”