Actress Scarlett Johansson blasted James Franco at the Women’s March and then quickly found herself under attack as a hypocrite over her 2014 defense of Woody Allen.
It appears as though the increasingly ugly side of the #MeToo movement is now eating its own tail.
Without naming him, Johansson stood before a crowd of female protesters on Saturday to express her outrage towards actor James Franco, who has been accused by at least five women of misconduct.
“My mind baffles. 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 said, adding, “I want my pin back, by the way.”
The pin she is referring to is the “Times Up” pin Franco wore at the Golden Globes two weeks ago, a pin that represents solidarity with the #MeToo movement.
As many as five women have come forward to accuse Franco of various forms of misbehavior. Four of the accusers attended Franco’s film school and claim Franco exploited them, including claims he coerced them into doing nudity during the filming of The Long Home, a 2015 movie starring Franco that has not yet been released.
Another woman, although she later engaged in a consensual relationship with Franco, says he “pushed my head down in a car towards your exposed penis & that other time you told my friend to come to your hotel when she was 17? After you had already been caught doing that to a different 17 year old?”
The “already been caught” statement refers to Franco’s 2014 attempt to pick up a 17 year-old girl through social media. Although 17 is above the age of consent where the incident occurred (New York), Franco, who was 36 at the time, publicly apologized for his behavior.
In a series of tweets that have now been deleted, actress Ally Sheedy also appeared to accuse Franco of misconduct. She has yet to elaborate.
Franco has publicly denied all wrongdoing.
While the #MeToo mob cheered Johansson’s attack on Franco, it quickly turned against the Avengers actress over her lack of purity in the matter of Woody Allen.
Between 2005 and 2009, Johansson made three movies with Allen. In 2014, after Allen’s daughter Dylan Farrow, published an article re-litigating the 1993 accusation that her father molested her, Johansson was asked about the matter. “It’s not like this is somebody that’s been prosecuted and found guilty of something,” she said. “I mean, it’s all guesswork.”
The allegations against Allen were exhaustively investigated for months back in 1993. Investigators concluded that there was no evidence of molestation, but that there was in act evidence Dylan was coached by her mother Mia Farrow. Allen’s adopted son Moses, who was 14 and present when the alleged molestation occurred, also says Allen is innocent and that he witnessed Mia Farrow coach the then-seven-year-old Dylan into making false allegations.
Nevertheless, an organized blacklisting campaign has been launched against Allen this month, and Johansson is now paying a price.
One fan tweeted: “Scarlett Johansson the biggest hypocrite that is there…calls out James Franco yet supports Woody Allen and would hem his pants if she had to…wow!”
A second wrote, “Congrats to Scarlett Johansson for calling out James Franco and the harmful cool girl narrative but you still haven’t denounced Woody Allen and apologized to Dylan Farrow.”
A third wrote: “Scarlett Johansson called out James Franco but how many times did she work with Woody Allen ??? When it’s about money and career, the times up movement disappears very quickly I guess.”
Piers Morgan also hit Johnsson for “drooling over” child rapist Roman Polanski at the 2014 Cesar Film Awards in Paris.
Johansson is caught is a web of her own making. Because she is only concerned with advancing her career and fitting in with the Hollywood cool kids, Johansson has no real principles to fall back on, no foundation of morals or beliefs. Because it was perfectly fine to enhance her résumé by working with Allen ten years ago and to gush over Polanski, she did so. But now that the latest trend is in favor of witch hunts and public denunciations, Johansson has jumped on that bandwagon. And this does make her a hypocrite.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.
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