Ariana DeBose has insisted that she wasn’t taking shots at her former co-star Rachel Zegler in a recent Instagram story post.

Earlier this week, the Oscar winner raised eyebrows when she posted a cryptic graphic of a quote on her page which read: “Narcissism is not something to be coddled or encouraged.”

It didn’t take her followers long to point out that this quote came from Jonah Platt, the son of Snow White producer Marc Platt.

Last week, Jonah admonished Rachel on social media, in light of reports which claimed his dad flew to New York to give the Golden Globe winner a talking to about political comments she had been making on social media in the run-up to the Disney movie’s release.

Because of Ariana’s past connection to Rachel, having appeared alongside her in the remake of West Side Story, some media outlets suggested this was an intentional dig on her part.

However, Ariana has insisted that she wasn’t aware of the origins of the quote.

“I post quotes all the time and thought this one was meaningful,” she insisted on her Instagram story, adding that she was willing to “fully cop to the fact I did not do any research on where this quote came from, nor did I know of the connection until it was pointed out to me”.

Ariana continued: “I have no intention of inserting myself into a news cycle. This is not the first time l’ve posted about dealing with narcissism and it probably won’t be the last, but next time l’ll be sure to clarify its origins first.”

Rachel led the 2021 remake of West Side Story as Maria, for which she won a Golden Globe, while Ariana won an Oscar for her performance as Anita.

Both stars have gone on to lead less-than-well-received Disney projects, with Ariana voicing Asha in 2023′s Wish and Rachel’s Snow White currently still in cinemas.

Earlier this year, it was reported that Ariana was being eyed for the lead in Jamie Lloyd’s upcoming West End revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita, and confirmed to Deadline that she was in talks for the part.

Interestingly, it was later announced that Rachel had landed the role instead.