West Side Story: Rachel Zegler was not comfortable being asked about Ansel Elgort’s sexual assault allegations

For all the good that came out of Rachel Zegler’s feature film debut in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of West Side Story, there was an elephant in the room that loomed over the film’s publicity tour. The male lead, Ansel Elgort, was accused in June 2020 of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl in 2014. As his female co-lead, Zegler was asked many times to speak on the allegations during the film’s press tour and it’s something that was a ‘gut punch’ for the actress.

While speaking with Elle and writer Adrienne Gaffney, it was observed that Zegler and the rest of the female cast were asked about the allegations, even though Elgort was present for many of the group panels that the cast did for the press. Zegler admitted that she didn’t understand why she was asked so often about the claims “even though the person in question was present.”

“It was a real gut punch, honestly. I reverted back to this brain space I was in [back in] June of 2020, when the accusation surfaced. We were in the middle of the first wave of lockdown, and there was nothing to do but doom-scroll. Those days were some of the worst mental health days I’ve ever had. I was sitting there having just turned 19, on the precipice of what was promised to be the biggest moment in my life, and was being held accountable [by the public] for accusations that not only had nothing to do with me but were made about a situation that was said to have occurred [five] years prior to when I had met and worked with this person. With no thought to the fact that I was also 17 when I met this person, 17 when I worked with them, 17 and 18 when I had to do love scenes.”

She makes a very solid point. It had to be especially weird for her because she’s his co-star and, at the time of filming, was the same age as his alleged accuser. Her moment in this big production from an acclaimed director was now smeared by an accusation that had nothing to do with her. I believe the press wanted her to comment on the matters because she was so young and in a position as a woman to comment about her feelings on the situation but this was Zegler’s first rodeo. Thrust into a big press tour and presented with questions that, even with a ton of prep, would be difficult for anyone to address. The actress admits that she never fought with the press for asking the questions but it was something that made her break behind the scenes. Zegler said, “[There is] inherent discomfort that comes with that realization that there are tons of people who think that you have to answer for the actions of an adult male who can speak for himself.”

Elgort and his people likely made it clear that the press couldn’t ask him about the allegations which is why it was never brought up to him personally during the group panels of their press tour. That also doesn’t mean it has to fall on Zegler and the rest of the female cast to address his personal matters. Speaking on the subject further Zegler said, “It is so wildly disappointing at every turn, no matter how you slice it. No matter how many times I’ve tried to justify people’s concern when it comes to me in my brain, but then realizing that it comes from a place of me having to answer for that, and not them actually caring about whether or not I was okay, was really hurtful. And also paying no mind when it came to the conversation between myself and these other incredible women in my cast, without any thought process to our experiences as women in the industry who constantly find ourselves in close encounters with men in power, and a very iconic woman in Hollywood [Rita Moreno] who has spoken about her experience with sexual assault.”

This all comes from an allegation a woman posted to Twitter on June 19, 2020. The woman alleged that Elgort “sexually assaulted” her when she was 17 and he was 20. She detailed how she had messaged Elgort over social media and they connected on Snapchat. At the time the woman said, “I was just a kid and was a fan of him so when it happened, instead of asking me if I wanted to stop having sex, knowing it was my first time and I was sobbing in pain and I didn’t want to do it, the only words that came out his mouth were, ‘we need to break you in.’”

In the age of cancel culture, the allegation instantly went viral and Elgort quickly tried to come out ahead of it. The next day, the now 27-year-old actor posted to his Instagram and explained that he did have a “brief, legal and entirely consensual relationship” with the woman in question and he ghosted her after they broke up which as he put it, was “an immature and cruel thing to do to someone.” When it came to the allegation of assault, Elgort stated that “her description of events is simply not what happened. I have never and would never assault anyone.”

The allegations seem to subside until West Side Story opened and, despite amazing reviews, underperformed at the box office. Some on social media pointed to his past allegations being the reason the film was derailed. Steven Spielberg and the rest of the cast also never really came out and discussed it, which is why the press often asked the female cast about it. Even though Zegler doesn’t come out and say she believes the allegations, she does say that her discomfort with the questions doesn’t compare to what the alleged victim may have gone through. Zegler said, “In the grand scheme of things with this woman who has come forward with these allegations, I cannot imagine what she had to go through. If I’m sitting here thinking that those days were traumatizing for me, I don’t pretend to know. I could never know. I really don’t have anything to do with this conversation, and I’m looking forward to moving past it.”

Do YOU think it was fair for the press to ask Rachel Zegler about Ansel Elgort’s sexual assault allegations during the West Side Story press tour?