You won’t be seeing Rachel Zegler sitting in the audience at this year’s Oscars, despite being the star of West Side Story, which has seven nominations, including one for Best Picture. Why is that? Well, it turned out she could not get an invite!
The 20-year-old actress made the revelation on Sunday when responding to a comment someone left on Instagram saying how they could not “wait to see” what she was wearing to the ceremony. She shockingly responded that she was “invited”:
“I’m not invited so sweatpants and my boyfriend’s flannel.”
Naturally, fans were outraged by Zegler’s exclusion from the Academy Awards. The singer then followed up in the comments section, explaining that she tried everything she could to get into the event next week but was unsuccessful:
“IDK y’all I have tried it all but it doesn’t seem to be happening. I will root for ‘West Side Story’ from my couch and be proud of the work we so tirelessly did 3 years ago. I hope some last-minute miracle occurs and I can celebrate our film in person but hey, that’s how it goes sometimes, I guess. thanks for all the shock and outrage — I’m disappointed, too. but that’s OK. So proud of our movie.”
Still, that did nothing to sway people’s outrage over her exclusion. One fan wrote on Twitter:
“How is it that #WestSideStory racked up 7 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture… but the lead actress, @rachelzegler , isn’t invited to the awards… are you not embarrassed @TheAcademy”
Someone else then chimed in:
“rachel zegler being the *lead* in a film that has seven oscar nominations yet not being invited to the ceremony… make it make sense”
A third also questioned:
“How the hell is @rachelzegler not invited to the Oscars?! @TheAcademy you have some splaining to do!”
Pretty much everyone had the same question: why wasn’t Zegler invited??? It is unknown why the Golden Globe winner was snubbed from the guest list, especially since her co-star Ariana DeBose is expected to win Best Supporting Actress and Steven Spielberg is up for Best Director. And like we said, the film itself is nominated for Best Picture. So what gives?
Of course, the Academy Awards have not released the names of all the attendees yet, so this all could be just a mix-up. COVID could also be a factor in this. And unfortunately, not everyone in the West Side Story cast can come, but you would think that the lead actress could get an invitation! Right?
Later on, Zegler took to Twitter to respond to her fans’ outrage over the snub and ask everyone to calm down:
“my goodness, folks!! appreciate all the support, i really really do. we live in such unprecedented times, and a lot of work behind the scenes goes into making movie magic happen. that goes for film productions (like the one I am so lucky to be currently shooting in london)… …and awards shows alike. let’s all just respect the process and i’ll get off my phone x R.”
…and awards shows alike. let’s all just respect the process and i’ll get off my phone x R.
— rachel zegler (she/her/hers) (@rachelzegler) March 20, 2022
We’ll have to see if Rachel ends up getting that invite in the next six days!
[Image via Rachel Zegler/Instagram]
The post <i>West Side Story</i> Star Rachel Zegler Surprisingly Reveals She Wasn’t Invited To The Oscars! appeared first on Perez Hilton.