Ariana DeBose, 34, has stoked controversy after sharing a quote about narcissism on Instagram that appeared to criticise Snow White star Rachel Zegler.
Zegler has been at the centre of worldwide debate of late for her remarks about the original Disney flick while the "woke" adaption has flopped at the box office.
Oscar-winning actress DeBose starred alongside Zegler, 23, in Steven Spielberg's 2021 remake of West Side Story.
DeBose posted the quote "Narcissism is not something to be coddled or encouraged" on Tuesday before swiftly deleting it following backlash.
The statement originally came from Jonah Platt, son of Snow White producer Marc Platt, who had publicly blamed Zegler for the Disney remake's poor box office performance.
DeBose has denied knowingly posting a quote criticising Rachel Zegler
Getty
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The Instagram post featured the quote imposed over a bouquet of flowers and was set to Beyoncé's Cozy, according to Vulture.
DeBose has since claimed she was unaware of the quote's origins when she shared it.
Platt's original comment went viral last week after he defended his father, who reportedly flew to New York to "reprimand" Zegler for posting "Free Palestine" on social media during the film's promotion.
In his lengthy Instagram comment, Platt accused Zegler of "dragging her personal politics into the middle of promoting the movie" and claimed her actions "clearly hurt the film's box office".
He wrote that "tens of thousands of people worked on that film and she hijacked the conversation for her own immature desires".
DeBose posted appeared to quote the son of a Snow White producer who had been intensely critical of Zegler
Instagram: Ariana DeBose
After deleting the post, DeBose addressed the situation in an Instagram Story without mentioning Zegler by name.
"I post quotes all the time and thought this one was meaningful. Will fully cop to the fact 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," she wrote.
She insisted she had "no intention of inserting myself into a news cycle".
DeBose added: "This is not the first time I've posted about dealing with narcissism and it probably won't be the last, but next time I'll be sure to clarify its origins first."
The two actresses first worked together on Steven Spielberg's 2021 remake of West Side Story, which launched Zegler's career and earned DeBose an Academy Award for her role as Anita.
Zegler has struggled to repeat her success, with Snow White failing to impress critically or at the box office.
The film saw a huge $410 million (£317.3 million) investment from Disney, covering the bloated $270 million (£208 million) production budget and a $111 million (£85.9 million) global advertising campaign.
As a result, Snow White is projected the lose the entertainment giant a staggering $115 million (£89 million).
Disney's Snow White remake has flopped at the box office
Disney
Critics were at best lukewarm on the film, scoring a poor 40 percent rating on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes.
Zegler's Palestine comment reportedly led to tensions with her Israeli co-star Gal Gadot, forcing Disney to scale back the premiere.
The 23-year-old actress also controversially opined about the original 1937 adaption, slamming it as "dated" and declared the remake would not feature a princess "dreaming about true love" or being "saved by the prince".
The film faced further accusations of being ‘woke’ after it emerged the iconic seven dwarves would be reimagined as “magical creatures”.
Replacing the dwarves with CGI-stoked outrage, as some claimed it was ultimately denying work to actors with dwarfism.
