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Sunday 06 of October 2024

Scarlett Johansson: Comments on diversity were misconstrued


AP Photo, Scarlett Johansson,FILE - In a Tuesday, April 23, 2019 file photo, Scarlett Johansson, a member of the cast of
AP Photo, Scarlett Johansson,FILE - In a Tuesday, April 23, 2019 file photo, Scarlett Johansson, a member of the cast of "Avengers: End Game," appears at a hand and footprint ceremony at the TCL Chinese Theatre, in Los Angeles. Scarlett Johansson says comments she made on the “authentic casting” debate have been taken out of context and asserts that she supports diversity in film. In a recent interview with As If magazine, she said actors should be allowed to play any person “because that is my job and the requirement of my job.” Johansson said Saturday, July 13, 2019 that those comments were subsequently edited in other publications for clickbait. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)

Scarlett Johansson says comments she made on the “authentic casting” debate have been taken out of context and asserts that she supports diversity in film.

The actress came under fire in 2017 for playing an Asian character in “Ghost in the Shell” and canceled plans last year to portray a transgender man in the upcoming film “Rub & Tug,” after transgender actors and advocates questioned the casting.

In a recent interview with As If magazine, she said actors should be allowed to play any person “because that is my job and the requirement of my job.”

Johansson said Saturday that those comments were subsequently edited in other publications for “clickbait.”

“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,” she said in a statement.

“I recognize that in reality, there is a wide spread discrepancy amongst my industry that favors Caucasian, cisgender actors and that not every actor has been given the same opportunities that I have been privileged to.”