Enough is enough. Scarlett Johansson is condemning the paparazzi and the dangerous lengths they go to in order to get a photo in a new statement released on Tuesday. Johansson’s statement is tied to an appearance earlier this week on Jimmy Kimmel Live! as part of her press rounds while promoting upcoming film Avengers: Endgame. This is the first time that Johansson has spoken this vehemently about the nature of being famous while arguably being hounded by the paparazzi, but something tells us that she’ll do whatever it takes to make sure it’s the last time and that the problem stops.
As reported by NBC Los Angeles, Johansson left the studio where Jimmy Kimmel Live! is filmed in Los Angeles on Monday night. Upon leaving the studio in a car with two other people (she was not driving), Johansson believed she was being followed “in a dangerous fashion” by paparazzi, according to Capt. Steve Lurie of the Los Angeles Police Department Hollywood Division and as noted by NBC. The report notes that Johansson stopped for a brief time before going home, likely in an attempt to deter the paparazzi and even went into a police station for help, although no charges were filed.
On Monday night’s scary incident, Johansson said in a statement to E! News, “The paparazzi consistently go to increasingly dangerous lengths to stalk and harass the people they are photographing. Even after Princess Diana’s tragic death, the laws were never changed to protect targets from the lawless paparazzi,” and went on to allege that “many paparazzi have criminal pasts and will perform criminal acts to get their shot.”
Per Johansson, the paparazzi who may have been following her on Monday were “putting other drivers and pedestrians at risk so they could follow me to find out where I was staying and subsequently stalk me and my young daughter for the duration of my stay.”
“The paparazzi put people’s lives at risk, so they can wait for days in quiet neighborhoods in blacked out cars, and try to follow me to the playground and photograph my child and other people’s children in a safe place that should be off limits, but isn’t. All of this is perfectly legal,” Johansson continued.
Johansson’s statement concluded with an explanation of why she did what she did on Monday night, ending with a powerful indictment of the paparazzi: “I felt it was my duty as a concerned citizen who was being pursued dangerously and stalked to go to the local precinct and seek guidance there. I would encourage others in a similar situation to go to the police. Women across the US are stalked, harassed and frightened and a universal law to address stalking must be at the forefront of law enforcement conversations. Until paparazzi are considered by the law for the criminal stalkers they are, it’s just a waiting game before another person gets seriously injured or killed, like Princess Diana.”
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