Martin Klebba, who voices Grumpy in the Snow White live-action remake, is “disappointed” that he won’t be walking a red carpet in support of the film.

The upcoming Disney remake has been beset by controversy due to the opposing political views of its leading stars Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, Zegler’s criticism of the 1937 animated original, and the decision to include CGI dwarves instead of casting real actors.

As a result of the backlash, traditional premieres have been ditched in favour of more stripped-back events, with Zegler launching the film at a small-scale premiere held at a medieval castle in Segovia, Spain on Wednesday.

Reacting to the decision to scale back the press events, Klebba told the New York Post, “I was a little disappointed. I’m not disappointed in Disney. I’m disappointed in the world.”

The Pirates of the Caribbean actor continued, “We’ve come to this place in society where people work really hard on this movie, where Marc (Webb), the director, is probably four years into putting this together, (along with) the producers and Disney, and just because a couple of people have views that not everybody feels the same way, now we’re having to alter the fun part of making a movie, which is premieres.”

Klebba, who has dwarfism, said that he understood why Disney executives made the decision but admitted, “I’m just still a little bummed because I was really looking forward to doing the red carpet. I just was really hoping to get to get together and walk the red carpet with these guys.”

In a separate interview with TMZ, the star insisted that it was always the plan to have CGI dwarves. However, he pointed out that Snow White would have been an amazing casting opportunity for actors of short stature, echoing sentiments made by other members of the dwarfism community.

The U.S. premiere of Snow White will take place in Hollywood, reportedly without any press, on 15 March ahead of its release on 21 March.

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