To Scarlett Johansson, The Raging Role Thief
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To Scarlett Johansson, The Raging Role Thief

You have way too much credibility and money to be acting like this.

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Dwight from The Office with a sign on his forehead that says "Asian"
YouTube

Dear Scarlett Johansson,

...seriously?

I just don't have any other words to say other than just...seriously?

First, you started off your pattern of stealing marginalized people's roles by playing an Asian woman in the American adaptation of "Ghost In The Shell." Hollywood already has a problem with whitewashing the mess out of every single non-American thing they touch, so that they decided to whitewash this bestselling franchise is the least surprising bit of information to pretty much anyone.

It's not even just the fact that you took on the role of an Asian character. It's the fact that when you finally decided to address the controversy, your answer was of the haphazard "I wanted to take on a powerful female role" variety. How lazy is this? But that's not even the main point of this article.

So the news broke recently that you were set to play another character to add to your resume: a trans man. Yes, readers, if you've been out of the loop, you definitely read this right. A cisgendered woman was just cast to play transgendered man Dante "Tex" Gill in the upcoming mob drama "Rub & Tug."

Of course, nobody is happy about this choice. Why? In case you're still too oblivious, it's because rather than just let a trans actor play this role instead and give them an opportunity to provide a better representation of one of the most marginalized groups in Hollywood, you basically decided to rob them of this opportunity.

And then when asked about it by Bustle, you really had nothing more to say other than, "Tell them that they can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto, and Felicity Huffman's reps for comment." What does this even mean? Just forget about having a fruitful discussion, huh?

The fact that this was your second time taking on a marginalized role as a white woman is awful. I've even speculated that you will probably take up a role of a Black woman, but in blackface. Knowing you, I have no doubt this isn't too far off the horizon.

Honestly, you have way too much credibility and money to be acting like this. I get that the last "Avengers" movie is coming out soon and once that ends you'll be wanting to find other roles to take on. But if you're really this desperate for a movie role that you'll resort to playing a whole other race and a whole other gender identity (that already gets enough flack as it is), maybe you just need to take a break from acting for a while. Find a new hobby, read up on intersectional feminism, and just enjoy a break. I promise you will benefit from it.

...well, unless they make a Black Widow spin-off movie or something like that. But until then, I'm serious about considering a break from acting. Maybe (and hopefully) you'll end up being more like your unproblematic colleague Jessica Chastain.

Sincerely,

The outraged general public

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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