whats the controversy with Rachel Zegler?

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What has she said/done that got her in so much trouble?

She's "woke" and openly supports a free Palestine.

https://www.distractify.com/p/why-do-pe ... hel-zegler

It started when she badmouthed the original Snow White for being heavily dated even though it's the beloved classic that made Disney what it is today.

A grain of salt is required before reading.
From Wikipedia
What she said: The original cartoon came out in 1937 and very evidently so. There's a big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her. Weird! Weird. So we didn't do that this time. We have a different approach to what I'm sure a lot of people will assume is a love story just because we cast a guy in the movie, Andrew Burnap, great dude. [...] But it's really not about her love story at all, which is really, really wonderful. [...] All of Andrew's scenes could get cut, who knows? It's Hollywood, baby!

In response to her comments, many rebuked her for making Snow White "more feminist",[139] while others criticized her for misinterpreting feminism, with accusations of promoting the girlboss archetype or maligning women that seek traditional feminine roles or are uninterested in power or leadership. Ashten Stein, a brand strategist, felt that Zegler's statements made it appear that she had not received media training for marketing.[140][141] Ultimately, critics inferred and claimed that Zegler disliked the original film.[134][142] David Hand, whose father of the same name co-directed the original animated film, criticized the remake, describing it as "insulting" and suggesting that his father and Walt Disney would be "turning in their graves".

I think reducing her critique to "badmouthing" is oversimplifying it beyond recognition, but I can also understand how simpletons fall into that trap.

the right being the thought police, how the pendulum swings

So to answer the question, over the last 10 years, there's been politicisation of actors, writers, directors and producers by fans and critics and conversely politicisation of movies by actors, writers, directors and producers.

Zegler falls into the second category. She was hired by Disney because she is actually tremendously talented, funny and great performer and already has a good number of acting gigs/theatre productions under her belt. However, she chose to speak her mind on a number of issues including critique of the original Disney Snow white which she labelled as sexist. Right wingers weaponised her comments for their own purpose. Calling her ungrateful to her employer but then sneakily/stealthfully attacked her casting as being the wrong ethnicity as the original snow white story is German (some irony in that Zegler not only actually looks like the cartoon character but she has German ancestry ). So they have both accused Zegler as being woke and Disney being woke for hiring her.

She has since also taken aim at trump supporters and has got into a tiff with actress Gal Gadot over Israel. I don't agree with everything she says but if I am being honest, she's quirky and talented and for some reason I really like her. Given she has drawn the ire of the MAGA crowd is just a bonus.

sure the movie bombed because it sucked but she got a lot of flack for her views

I'm with you when it comes to having no interest in seeing it.

I struggle to understand how so many middle-aged, single guys (the typical demographic antiwoke grifters fall into) are so emotionally invested in a movie aimed at preteen girls.

The ones who have kids, I feel bad for their kids.
The ones who don't, I just feel bad that this is who they grew up to be.