Scarlett Johansson Loves Woody Allen Despite Child Abuse Allegations

It's been two years since the #MeToo kicked off a national reckoning around sexual harassment and assault. But nearly a month to the day of the movement's two-year anniversary, Scarlett Johansson is standing by her man Woody Allen, whose adopted daughter Dylan Farrow accused him in a 2014 New York Timesop-ed of sexually assaulting her when she was a child. At the height of #MeToo in 2017, Farrow wrote a piece in the Los Angeles Times asking, "Why has the #MeToo revolution spared Woody Allen?"

"I love Woody," Johansson told the Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Wednesday. "I believe him, and I would work with him anytime."

"I see Woody whenever I can, and I have had a lot of conversations with him about it. I have been very direct with him, and he's very direct with me. He maintains his innocence, and I believe him," the actress who worked with Allen in Match Point (2005), Scoop (2006), and Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) continued.

Meanwhile, several actors have expressed regret over working with Allen. Farrow's 2014 article wasn't the first time his alleged abuse was made public. There had been an investigation in the '90s in which Connecticut's state's attorney felt there was enough evidence to prosecute but never took it to trial in order to somehow protect the "child victim." Among those who've apologized for working with Allen are Johansson's Vicki Cristina Barcelona costar Rebecca Hall, as well as Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Greta Gerwig, Rachel Brosnahan, Colin Firth, and Timothee Chalamet.

Just a day after admitted "pussy" grabber Donald Trump took office in 2017, Johansson lent her voice to the record-breaking Women's March. In the new THR interview, reporter Rebecca Keegan asked Johansson about defending Allen amid the current social and political climate.

"It's hard because it's a time where people are very fired up, and understandably," the Black Widow star said. "Things needed to be stirred up, and so people have a lot of passion and a lot of strong feelings and are angry, and rightfully so. It's an intense time."

With her outright praise of Allen, Johansson, who was recently found to be the top female box office breadwinner, continues to prove she's out of step with social issues of the day.

Johansson made tone-deaf remarks last year in response to trans people angered with her casting as a trans man in the movie Rub & Tug. She subsequently dropped out of the film and released a statement saying she was educating herself around trans issues. But just this summer she doubled-down on the idea that she should be allowed to play any role she wants.

"As an actor, I should be allowed to play any person, or any tree, or any animal because that is my job and the requirements of my job," Johansson. "I feel like it's a trend in my business and it needs to happen for various social reasons, yet there are times it does get uncomfortable when it affects the art because I feel art should be free of restrictions," she continued.

"I think society would be more connected if we just allowed others to have their own feelings and not expect everyone to feel the way we do."