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Scarlett Johansson Says She Should Be Able To Play Any Role, Whitewashed, Cis-Washed Or "Tree"

By Kristy Puchko | Celebrity | July 15, 2019 |

By Kristy Puchko | Celebrity | July 15, 2019 |


Scarlett-Johansson-Colin-Jost-1138836512.jpg

Scarlett Johansson is at it again. The actress, who whitewashed the lead role in Ghost In the Shell and came under fire for her plans to play a trans man in the biopic Rub and Tug, is defending her poor, insensitive, and offensive role-choosing. Johannson drew fresh ire for declaring in a new interview, “You know, as an actor I should be allowed to play any person, or any tree, or any animal because that is my job and the requirements of my job.”

As a white, cis-gender, female actress, Scarlett Johansson believes she should be able to play any race and gender. And to prove her sensitivity to marginalized communities, she compared them to animals and trees to mock their struggle for representation in film.


The Daily Mail
reports Johansson went on to say:

“I think society would be more connected if we just allowed others to have their own feelings and not expect everyone to feel the way we do.”

Basically, Johansson feels she’s the victim in these scandals, not the Asian actresses who are rarely given a shot to lead a Hollywood action film, even when it’s based on a Japanese property and set in Japan. It’s not the trans actors/actresses out there who again and again have to see their stories told by cis actors/actresses who don’t understand their experience, yet will pay lip service to their struggle while stealing roles that exploit those experiences for Oscar attention. The real victim is Scarlett Johansson, the wealthy, blockbuster-fronting actress who claims the best perk of being an actress is being able to “go to a (presumably expensive, very exclusive) restaurant without a reservation.”

Understandably, Johansson’s latest comments drew ire on Twitter:


After this fresh wave of criticism, Johansson is claiming her words were taken out of context. She told Vulture in a statement, “I personally feel that, in an ideal world, any actor should be able to play anybody and art, in all forms, should be immune to political correctness. That is the point I was making, albeit didn’t come across that way.”

This frankly sounds like a re-statement of her tone-deaf and whining declaration that it’s not fair she can’t do whatever she wants without hearing about how other people feel about it. However, Johansson did add: “I recognize that in reality, there is a wide spread discrepancy amongst my industry that favors Caucasian, cis gendered actors and that not every actor has been given the same opportunities that I have been privileged to. I continue to support, and always have, diversity in every industry and will continue to fight for projects where everyone is included.”

Exactly how Johansson is doing anything but paying lip service to support “diversity in the industry” is unclear. Maybe she’ll blame that on context too.



Header Image Source: Getty