Social Media Lashes out at Scarlett Johansson for Slamming James Franco

Scarlett Johansson called for James Franco to return his “Time’s Up” pin during a speech at the Women’s March in Los Angeles. However, some users took to social media to call her a hypocrite, since the actress has worked on three Woody Allen films.

“How could a person publicly stand by an organization that helps to provide support for victims of sexual assault while privately preying on people who have no power?” Johansson told the crowd on Saturday. “I want my pin back, by the way.”

Johansson was referring to Franco wearing a “Time’s Up” pin to show support for the initiative to stop workplace sexual harassment at the Golden Globes. But in the week after his win for The Disaster Artist, Franco was accused of sexually inappropriate and predatory behavior during his time as an acting teacher.

While Johansson’s comments drew applause from the Los Angeles crowds, it garnered finger-wagging from social media.

Twitter users were quick to point out that Johansson worked with Allen on Match Point, Scoop and Vicky Christina Barcelona. While her Vicky Christina Barcelona co-star Rebecca Hall recently announced she would no longer work with Allen, Johansson defended Allen in the past.

“I think it’s irresponsible to take a bunch of actors that will have a Google alert on and to suddenly throw their name into a situation that none of us could possibly knowingly comment on,” Johansson told The Guardian in March 2014, a month after Dylan Farrow’s open letter was published in the New York Times. “That just feels irresponsible to me.”

When asked about the thoughts on the backlash against Allen, Johansson said she was “unaware” of it at the time.

“I think he’ll continue to know what he knows about the situation, and I’m sure the other people involved have their own experience with it,” Johansson said. “It’s not like this is somebody that’s been prosecuted and found guilty of something, and you can then go, ‘I don’t support this lifestyle or whatever.’ I mean, it’s all guesswork.”

Johansson also told The Guardian she did not know the specifics of the allegations against Allen. “It would be ridiculous for me to make any kind of assumption one way or the other,” she said.

Of course, these comments were not forgotten by Twitter users.

“Hey Scarlett Johansson, don’t call yourself a feminist when you defend Woody Allen,” one person wrote.