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Scarlett Johansson has called out “big tech guys” in Hollywood for not standing up to Donald Trump.
In a new interview, the Marriage Story and Jojo Rabbit star discussed how, five years ago, there was a strong anti-Trump sentiment in Hollywood, but now he’s barely acknowledged at public events like the Academy Awards.
At last year’s Oscars, host Jimmy Kimmel made a joke at the president’s expense. When Trump complained that Kimmel was a bad host, he retorted: “Thank you for watching, I’m surprised you are still — isn’t it past your jail time?” In comparison, this year’s Academy Awards were devoid of references to the re-elected president.
Johansson noted that many of the people who fund the film industry also attended Trump’s inauguration. “These are people that are funding studios. It’s all these big tech guys that are funding our industry, and funding the Oscars.”
“I guess we’re being muzzled in all these different ways, because the truth is that these big tech companies are completely enmeshed in all aspects of our lives,” she told Vanity Fair.
When asked how the film industry could resist this muzzle, she admitted that she doesn’t know “how you fight that”.
She pointed to the example of the 2024 film The Apprentice, a less than flattering film about Trump in which the former property mogul was played by Sebastian Stan. Most studios steered clear of the film, and it was eventually acquired by the small distributor Briarcliff Entertainment. Despite this resistance, the film later received two Oscar nominations.
“Here’s where you would go, ‘OK, you can fight it by making stuff like that,’ ” Johansson said. “But then what happened with the release? It was buried.”
With the film industry increasingly controlled by streaming giants such as Amazon Prime and Apple TV, it is the “big tech guys” such as Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook and Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos who influence the landscape.
Johansson also called out the lack of action against AI companies in Hollywood. “I wish more people in the public eye would support and speak out about that – I don’t know why that’s not the case.”
Last year, the Marvel star alleged that OpenAI had used her voice without her consent. After she declined to have her voice used for their “Sky” chatbot, the final model – which OpenAI claimed was voiced by a separate actor – was eerily similar to the voice of Johansson’s character in the 2013 film Her. The company’s chief executive Sam Altman denied recreating her voice but did pause the system in response.
More recently, in February Johansson slammed a video fake of her which went viral for giving the middle finger to Kanye West.
Explaining that she felt alone in her fight, she said: “There has to be some agreed-upon set of boundaries in order for [AI] to not be detrimental.”
English (US) ·