Scarlett Johansson Says It’s ‘Irresponsible’ to Involve Her in Woody Allen Controversy

Actress Scarlett Johansson says it wasn’t fair for Dylan Farrow to mention her in Farrow’s open letter last month detailing claims that adopted father Woody Allen abused her as a child.

In the harrowing New York Times op-ed on Feb. 1, Farrow reiterated claims that Allen abused her, something Allen has steadfastly denied for years. Farrow also called out a few celebrities who have continued to work with Allen since the allegations were first made, writing, “What if it had been your child, Cate Blanchett? Louis CK? Alec Baldwin? What if it had been you, Emma Stone? Or you, Scarlett Johansson?”

Now in a new interview with the Observer, Johansson has addressed being thrown into the controversy.

“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,” she said. “That just feels irresponsible to me.”

Johannson also made an attempt to defend Allen, who directed her in 2008’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona. “I’m unaware that there’s been a backlash,” she said. “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. 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.”

She also indicated she’d like to stay out of the controversy, saying, “I don’t know anything about it. It would be ridiculous for me to make any kind of assumption one way or the other.”

Cate Blanchett and Alec Baldwin have also briefly addressed the controversy, as has Allen himself, who penned his own Times letter, in which he again declared his innocence and blamed Dylan’s mother Mia for the accusations.

[Observer]