Actor Rachel Zegler has some harsh — albeit fair — words for social media users who are a little too obsessed with Taylor Swift.
The “Snow White” star told Teen Vogue in an interview published Tuesday that she finds some fan behaviour online unsettling, especially when it comes to female celebrities.
“I’ve seen women in particular be torn down my entire life,” she told the magazine, referring to how fan culture tends to turn quickly on famous women.
“Jameela Jamil, why? Taylor Swift, why? Jennifer Lawrence, why? Anne Hathaway, why? Halle Bailey, why? And I know why, but the general public will never learn… now they’ve moved on to Chappell [Roan]. F*ck them.”
Roan, who rose to fame in the matter of months earlier this year, has received a good amount of heat on social media lately. The “Casual” singer has been criticised for the very blunt and unpolished ways she has asked her more ardent fans to respect her privacy — a move some took as a lack of appreciation for their support.
But Zegler seems to have found Roan’s attitude about her personal boundaries to be refreshing.
“I wish I had the wherewithal to say it the way Chappell did,” Zegler admitted. “I think she’s brilliant. I think the people who are mad at her are idiots who simply don’t know what it’s like to not have an ounce of privacy anymore.”
The West Side Story star backed up her opinion by pointing out how the online discourse surrounding Swift’s personal life has become increasingly intrusive.
“Why is Taylor Swift XYZ? You don’t know her. It’s so [wild] that you’re talking like that, because you don’t know her. I don’t know her, and that’s why I’m not on the internet going, ‘But actually, I think that she’s actually conniving in this and her relationship isn’t real.’ You don’t know this person. Spend your time learning a craft. Touch some grass. Kiss a girl, do something.”
The Hunger Games star’s remarks to Teen Vogue resonated with many on X, formerly Twitter.
Zegler has certainly received her fair share of hate online. She has been criticized for her feminist views and was attacked online last year when Disney announced that the actor of Colombian and Polish descent would be playing Snow White in its upcoming live-action adaptation.
Zegler told Teen Vogue that due to all the negative noise online, she quit X for the sake of her own mental health.
“I’ve been doxxed. I’ve had people outside my apartment, I’ve had people protesting my existence and the colour of my skin,” Zegler explained. “I feel like you become stripped of your humanity a bit because you are seen as a product or an object of people’s affection, hatred, obsession. That can have… some good sides and some bad sides. I’ve mostly seen the bad of it.”