‘West Side Story’ Star Rachel Zegler Hasn’t Been Invited To Oscars Ceremony

One of the breakout stars of 2021’s West Side Story adaptation, Rachel Zegler, revealed that she currently isn’t able to attend the 2022 Academy Awards despite having “tried it all,” to get in, even though it was nominated for seven awards this year.

She revealed the snub when she responded to a fan’s comment on Instagram who said, “Can’t wait to see what you’ll be wearing on Oscar night,” by saying, “I’m not invited so sweatpants and my boyfriend’s flannel.” She elaborated in a second comment pictured below. “I hope some last-minute miracle occurs,” but for now she is “disappointed” to not be able to attend the show, she wrote.

It’s a bizarre choice to keep Zegler from the Oscars red carpet given that the ceremonies have been struggling to pull in viewers, and she is a fresh new star with almost 600,000 followers just on Instagram.

Seating arrangements have notably been restricted due to COVID-19 risks for the in-person gathering. Organizers have about 800 fewer chairs to work with than the standard capacity of the Dolby Theater, so they had to scrap programs like the ticket lottery that have been in place in the past.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences intentionally takes invitations out of their hands by passing the buck along to others to decide who comes in. The Academy simply distributes a set number of tickets to nominees and presenters, then pass the rest of the tickets along to studios to decide. With that in mind, it seems like the decision came from West Side Story’s distributor Disney to not let Zegler in, but maybe this fan uproar will change things.

Regina Hall, Wanda Sykes and Amy Schumer have been named as co-hosts for the Oscars. There will be a huge variety of celebrity presenters for the ceremony as well including include Tiffany Haddish, Tony Hawk, DJ Khaled, Jamie Lee Curtis, Halle Berry, Elliot Page and Lady Gaga.

The Oscars Ceremony will air Sunday starting at 8 p.m. EST on ABC.