Journalist threatens Inde Navarrette with ‘non-stop rumours’ if her team keeps ignoring him
Jeff Sneider and Inde Navarrette (X/TheInSneider | Getty Images)
Entertainment journalist Jeff Sneider has sparked backlash after publicly threatening to publish “non-stop rumours” about actress Inde Navarrette if her team continues to ignore his attempts to contact them.
Sneider initially posted on X on 3 September that he planned to write about Navarrette “for a long time”, adding that he could be “a useful friend” to her team or, rather, could “share literally everything” he heard about her. He accompanied the post with what appeared to be a screenshot of an email sent to the actress’s representatives.
When one person commented underneath the post, writing, “complaining a young actress team doesn’t give you the time of day is giving creeper tbh”, Sneider pushed back.
“Complaining? I wasn’t complaining. That was a threat!” he replied. “Engage, or don’t, and be subjected to non-stop rumours.”
He went on to say that he would actually “love to continue being ignored” because it would allow him to “say whatever I want,” adding that doing so had been “very lucrative” for him.
The exchange quickly drew criticism online, with commenters describing his behaviour as creepy, unprofessional and inappropriate. Several users questioned why an entertainment journalist was publicly pressuring an actress and her representatives simply because they had apparently chosen not to engage with him.
The controversy comes at a particularly significant moment in Navarrette’s career. The actress, who broke on the scene with Obsession, has reportedly landed the lead role in The Waffle House Index, an upcoming Apple Original Films project from Plan B Entertainment. She is also attached to the film as an executive producer.
Navarrette is additionally set to play Rogue in Marvel’s upcoming X-Men reboot, putting her at the centre of one of Hollywood’s biggest upcoming franchises.
While Navarrette’s career is rapidly gaining momentum, the conversation surrounding her this week has instead been dominated by a journalist publicly threatening that he intends to report on “literally everything” he hears about her if her representatives continue not to respond to him.
There is a legitimate role and sanctioned avenues for entertainment journalists to report on actors, contact representatives for comment and pursue stories even when publicists do not respond. However, there is a significant difference between reporting a story independently and explicitly framing coverage as something a subject can avoid by giving the journalist access.
For now, Navarrette has not publicly responded to the exchange.
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