'Snow White' live-action lead Rachel Zegler criticized anew for calling Prince Charming a 'creepy stalker'

Rachel Zegler, the actress set to play as Snow White in the upcoming live-action retelling, is facing the public's rage yet again for her controversial take on the Disney princess' love interest, Prince Charming.

During a brief interaction with celebrity and entertainment news outlet Extra TV, the actress was asked for her statement on her version of Snow White which was going to be different than the original animated interpretation.

"The original cartoon came out in 1937 and very evidently so. There's a big focus on her love story with the guy who literally stalks her. Weird, weird. So we didn’t do that this time," she said.

The news outlet tried to clarify if she meant that the character will be completely erased from the live-action version.

Zegler explained, "We have a different approach to what I'm sure a lot of people will assume is a love story just because we casted a guy in the movie. It's one of those thing that I think everyone's going to have their assumptions about what it's actually going to be, but it's really not about the love story at all, which is really, really wonderful."

"Whether or not she finds love along the way is anybody's guess until 2024," she added, joking that all of her co-star Andrew Burnap's scenes as the Prince may be removed from the film.

In a separate interview with Variety, Zegler talked about how she wants to portray Snow White as someone who's "not going to be saved by the prince" and not someone who's "going to be dreaming about true love."

"She's dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be and the leader that her late father told her that she could be if she was fearless, fair, brave, and true," she continued.

Her views on the character of Prince Charming did not sit well with many social media users.

"Rachel Zegler (a.k.a. Snow Woke) is one of the most smug new arrivals in Hollywood. She calls the original Snow White prince a 'stalker.' Has she even watched the original movies?" one user wrote on X (formerly Twitter.

Another one took to TikTok to argue with Zegler's interview with Variety, saying, "It is not anti-feminist to want to fall in love, to want to get married, to want to stay at home, to be soft, to want to be a homemaker. None of these things makes you less valuable as a person or a woman."

"Thinking that a woman is any less valuable because she falls in love or because she accepts help from somebody instead of girl-bossing her way through her problems is not feminist," the user added.

Right from the beginning, Zegler had already been receiving criticisms for being cast in the upcoming live-action film, with some questioning why a Latina actress would play someone who is known for having "skin as white as snow."

Despite this, she is choosing to carry on without trying to let the criticisms overwhelm her, stressing that having to play Snow White as a Latina was something she never thought was possible "in a million years."

The original Snow White film was released by Disney as the very first traditionally animated feature film for both the studio and in history. It follows a young princess who is targeted by her evil stepmother for being "the fairest one of all" shortly after meeting and falling in love with a prince who heard her singing.

Directed by Marc Webb, the Snow White retelling will also star Andrew Burnap as well as Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen. It's set to premiere in 2024.