Disney’s Wildest Premiere: Drunk Dwarfs, Public Nudity, and the Fallout That Haunts Snow White
There’s drama—and then there’s Disney drama. While the company is known for turning fairy tales into multi-billion-dollar empires, some of its most iconic titles have premiered under clouds of chaos, controversy, and unintentional hilarity.
Take Pinocchio (1940), for example. A beloved classic now, sure—but the premiere? Total disaster. And not just your average red carpet mishap. We’re talking full-blown nudity, cops climbing marquees, and Disney PR scrambling to hide the hangover. Fast-forward to 2025, and Disney finds itself in the hot seat again—this time with the Rachel Zegler-led Snow White remake that became one of the most controversial (and expensive) flops in the studio’s modern history.
Let’s pour a tall glass of truth and revisit two jaw-dropping premiere disasters—one that ended with pillowcases and police, and another that left Disney bleeding money and goodwill.
PINOCCHIO’S WILD NYC PREMIERE: DRUNKEN DWARFS AND A CRAPS GAME ABOVE 6TH AVENUE
February 7, 1940: Pinocchio premiered at the Center Theatre in New York. The hype was real. Snow White had been a sensation, and Walt Disney needed another smash hit. So how did Disney’s team try to stir excitement? By putting eleven little people in Pinocchio costumes on the roof of the theater marquee.
Yes, this happened.
The “mini-Pinocchios” were stationed up top to bring magic to the street-level crowd. But at lunchtime, the PR stunt turned sideways. Along with sandwiches and snacks, Disney’s crew hoisted up bottles of booze. A few drinks in, and the performers reportedly stripped naked, started belching loudly, and played craps in full view of the crowd below.
As the story goes, they refused repeated orders to climb down or cover up. So the police were called. Officers scaled the marquee with ladders, threw pillowcases over the nude performers, and dragged them down one by one—all in front of stunned families waiting to see the new “wholesome” Disney film.
It’s a moment that somehow escaped most official Disney history timelines—but it lives on in entertainment lore as one of the most unhinged movie premiere stunts of all time.
SNOW WHITE 2025: DISNEY’S FAIRY TALE FLOP THAT NEVER STOOD A CHANCE
Now let’s talk about Snow White (2025). Unlike the spontaneous chaos of Pinocchio, this one unraveled slowly and publicly.
The film had everything going for it on paper: a live-action update of the first-ever Disney princess film, a buzzy young star in Rachel Zegler, and a massive marketing push. But things went wrong early—and kept getting worse.
According to IMDb and industry trackers, Snow White opened on March 21, 2025, and quickly earned the dreaded title of “official flop.” With just $205.5 million in global earnings, the film fell drastically short of its estimated $410 million cost (including marketing). That’s a shortfall of over $115 million—making it Disney’s worst-performing live-action remake in nearly a decade.
But the box office alone isn’t what made headlines. The real damage was in the lead-up, which became a rolling PR disaster stretching back to 2022.
DWARF DISPUTES, PRINCESS SHADE & POLITICAL CONTROVERSY
Trouble first sparked when Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage called out the idea of a modern Snow White remake that included dwarfs at all. Speaking on Marc Maron’s podcast, he slammed Disney for promoting progressive casting in one breath while “still making that f—— backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave.”
Disney scrambled. They promised to “reimagine” the dwarf characters and use a new approach—but fans of the classic story were already wary.
Then came the Zegler soundbites.
While promoting the film at D23, Rachel Zegler went viral for shading the 1937 animated original.
“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.”
The internet wasn’t having it. Longtime Disney fans felt attacked, calling her remarks disrespectful and tone-deaf. The backlash spread like wildfire.
But it didn’t stop there. Zegler also faced fire for her political posts. One especially controversial moment came in August 2024 when, in a post promoting the Snow White trailer, she included the line:
“And always remember, free Palestine.”
Another resurfaced Instagram post read:
“May Trump supporters and Trump voters and Trump himself never know peace. F— Donald Trump.”
Zegler eventually apologized, saying, “Hatred and anger have caused us to move further and further away from peace and understanding.” But the damage to the film’s perception was already done.
NO PREMIERE, NO FANFARE, NO SAVING GRACE
By the time Snow White was ready to premiere, Disney had pulled the plug on the red carpet altogether. Variety confirmed that the studio would forgo the typical media blitz, instead opting for low-key coverage from in-house staff photographers. Gone were the usual rows of entertainment outlets, influencers, and glamor. It was a whisper of a rollout, signaling Disney knew the waters were too rough to risk a full publicity event.
The result? A film that not only bombed financially but also became a punchline. It joins the ranks of Pete’s Dragon(2016) as a rare Disney remake misfire—but even that film made less noise (and fewer headlines) than Snow White 2025.
TWO PREMIERES, EIGHT DECADES APART, SAME DISASTER ENERGY
It’s easy to forget that Disney, the studio built on dreams and precision, has had some very messy moments. Whether it’s drunken nudity in 1940 or social media meltdowns in 2025, the company’s long history of premiere chaos proves one thing: fairy tale endings are never guaranteed.
So the next time you hear someone say “Disney magic,” just remember—it might come with pillowcases and PR nightmares.
