Maria will go to the ball as Rachel Zegler will now attend the Oscars following backlash after she said she wasn’t invited to the Academy Awards.
The 20-year-old is the star of Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake which is currently up for no less than seven awards at this year’s Academy Awards, including ‘Best Picture’.
Due to the success of West Side Story the 20-year-old star found herself the youngest winner of the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical in 2022.
No Oscars Invite Backlash
Last week in response to a comment on her Instagram asking what she will be wearing to the awards ceremony, Zegler wrote: ‘I’m not invited so sweatpants and my boyfriend’s flannel.’
When shocked fans flooded the comment section with questions over why West Side Story’s leading lady will not be attending the Oscars, Zegler said: ‘Idk y’all, I have tried it all, but it doesn’t seem to be happening.’
When it comes to Oscar invites, according to the LA Times, film academy gives each movie studio with a best picture nominee, like West Side Story has, a certain number of tickets then the studio can assign however it wants – on top of this individual nominees and presenters receive their own tickets to the show, of which Zegler is neither.
Of course this garnered huge amounts of backlash from fans of the actor took to Twitter to share their outrage.
One Twitter user wrote: ‘rachel zegler being the lead in a film that has seven oscar nominations yet not being invited to the ceremony… make it make sense.’
Another said: ‘Y’all, Richard Gere who was the lead actor of Chicago was at the Oscars in 2002. He wasn’t nominated. In 2013, the entire CAST of Les Misérables was invited to perform at the #Oscars. Please, please, don’t make excuses for why Rachel Zegler wasn’t invited. This ain’t cute.’
Oscars Invite U-Turn
Following the backlash The Hollywood Reporter has said Zegler has been invited to be a presenter at the ceremony, meaning she will receive her own invite.
The report says ‘efforts are being undertaken to rearrange the film’s shooting schedule to enable Zegler to be at the Oscars’ as she is currently in London shooting Disney’s live-action remake of Snow White.
Zegler is yet to comment on this update. The 2022 Academy Awards are to be held at the Dolby Theatre on March 27.