DeBose’s original post directly quoted the son of Zegler’s ‘Snow White’ producer Marc Platt, who said her “narcissism is not something to be coddled.”

Ariana DeBose issued a clarification shortly after sharing a post to her Instagram that directly quoted recent criticism of her West Side Story costar Rachel Zegler.

“I post quotes all the time and thought this one was meaningful,” DeBose shared in an Instagram story on Tuesday. “Will fully cop to the fact that 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.”

Ariana DeBose on Instagram.Ariana Debose/Instagram

Entertainment Weekly has reached out to reps for both Zegler and DeBose.

Earlier this afternoon, Debose shared a post which she then reposted to her story that read, “Narcissism is not something to be coddled or encouraged.” The post directly quoted a now-deleted comment by Jonah Platt, son of Zegler’s Snow White producer Marc Platt, which took aim at Zegler posting in support of Palestine shortly after the release of the film’s trailer, a move that the younger Platt implied hurt the live-action remake at the box office.

Platt claimed that Zegler “hijacked the conversation for her own immature desires at the risk of all the colleagues and crew and blue collar workers who depend on that movie to be successful. Narcissism is not something to be coddled or encouraged.”

DeBose continued in her clarification to note that she has “no intention of inserting myself into a news cycle. This is not the first time I’ve posted about dealing with narcissism before and it probably won’t be the last, but next time I’ll be sure to clarify its origins first.”

The X post which kicked off the chain of accusations and deletions came from Zegler on Aug. 12, 2024. After thanking fans for racking up 120 million views on the Snow White trailer within a day of its release, Zegler followed up with a post that read, “and always remember, free palestine.”

A March 25 report from Variety alleged that Marc Platt “flew to New York to speak directly with” Zegler after she made the post. Two days later, Jonah responded to a comment on an Instagram post for his Being Jewish podcast which raised this allegation by saying, “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,” according to screen grabs circulating online.

Ariana DeBose on Instagram.Ariana Debose/Instagram DeBose has not shared any quotes presented without caption to her Instagram over the past year. But the Love Hurts star is outspokenly political, sharing posts advocating for women’s rights and urging her followers last October to vote for Kamala Harris over Donald Trump in the presidential election.

Ariana DeBose and Rachel Zegler in ‘West Side Story’.Niko Tavernise/20th Century Studios

Zelger and DeBose first worked together on Steven Spielberg’s 2021 remake of West Side Story, which gave Zegler her first screen role and won DeBose an Oscar.

In January, DeBose told Deadline that she was in talks to star in Evita at the London Palladium, but by the end of the month she had reportedly moved on. In March, Zegler was announced as the lead in the Tony-winning Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, which will be directed by Jamie Lloyd.