Scarlett Johansson voices fear of antisemitic violence
Jewish-American actress Scarlett Johansson called out the alarming rise in antisemitism in a recent interview with Israel’s Channel 12 News, discussing concerns that it could lead to physical violence.
People are making antisemitic comments and just assuming that you’re feeling the same way, and in those moments, I always feel it’s such a tightrope walk, the 40-year-old New York City native said.
“Whenever people are spewing any kind of hate, I always am concerned that they are going to be physically violent as well, and so it’s a scary dilemma to find yourself in, those moments,” Johansson said.
“Should I speak up and defend my family? Defend my myself? Or am I actually inviting somebody to be physically violent with me or who knows what the result of this is going to be? I think there’s so much fear around that,” she continued.
Johansson’s mother is Jewish with Ashkenazi ancestry, while her father’s side is Danish from Copenhagen, making her Jewish according to traditional rabbinical law. She has described herself as Jewish.
The award-winning Hollywood star cast Holocaust survivors for her feature directorial debut, “Eleanor the Great.” She also previously served as a spokesperson for the Israeli manufacturing company SodaStream.
Many of her colleagues in the entertainment industry have taken a vocally anti-Israel turn, especially since the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and subsequent war in Gaza. Variety reported on Nov. 4 that Paramount, under the leadership of new chairman and CEO David Ellison, is allegedly blacklisting talent deemed to be “overtly antisemitic,” among other offences.
In September, Paramount became the first major Hollywood player to publicly reject a celebrity-backed open letter signed by stars such as Emma Stone and Javier Bardem, which urged a boycott of Israeli film institutions accused of involvement in “genocide and apartheid” against Palestinians. Warner Bros. later distanced itself from the letter, citing legal concerns.
The letter was signed by several other high-profile figures, including actors Mark Ruffalo, Susan Sarandon, Tilda Swinton, Hannah Einbinder, Aimee Lou Wood, Peter Sarsgaard, Rooney Mara, Cynthia Nixon, Ilana Glazer, Abbi Jacobson, Ken Loach, Debra Winger, Jonathan Glazer and Joaquin Phoenix, and Oscar-winning director Yorgos Lanthimos.
A counter-letter organized by Creative Community for Peace was signed by more than 1,200 Hollywood professionals, including Liev Schreiber, Mayim Bialik and Sharon Osbourne, rejecting the boycott as discriminatory and counterproductive to peace efforts.
JNS
