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Actress Scarlett Johansson is being accused of hypocrisy for slamming actor James Franco over sexual misconduct allegations after previously defending director Woody Allen, who has himself been accused of sexual assault.
In a passionate speech at the Women's March in Los Angeles, Johansson referred to Franco sitting in the Golden Globes audience with a Time's Up anti-harassment movement pin on his lapel, before facing allegations of sexual misconduct hours later.
"How could a person publicly stand by an organisation that helps to provide support for victims of sexual assault, while privately preying on people who have no power?" Johansson said during her speech at the Women's March.
"I want my pin back, by the way."
Johannsen did not name Franco in her speech, but her team later confirmed she was referring to The Disaster Artist actor and director.
But she soon came under fire for her previous comments of support for Allen, who has been accused of sexually assaulting his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow when she was seven years old.
In 2014, Ms Farrow — who Allen adopted with actress Mia Farrow — published an open letter in which she detailed her accusations against Allen.
In it, she condemned several Hollywood figures — including Johannsen, who has starred in several of his films — for their silence on the issue.
"What if it had been your child, Cate Blanchett?" Ms Farrow wrote.
"Louis CK? Alec Baldwin? What if it had been you, Emma Stone? Or you, Scarlett Johansson? You knew me when I was a little girl, Diane Keaton. Have you forgotten me?"
A month later, Johannsen came to the prolific filmmaker's defence, and said she thought it was "irresponsible" for Ms Farrow to name "a bunch of actors" in the piece.
"I'm unaware that there's been a backlash. 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," she said in 2014.
"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."
Allen and Mia Farrow split when he began a relationship with her adopted daughter from a previous relationship, Soon-Yi Previn.
Johansson's comments have come back to bite her, with several people labelling her a "hypocrite".
There has been widespread discussion about sexual harassment in Hollywood after New York Times and New Yorker investigations exposed film producer Harvey Weinstein's alleged history of sexual misconduct.
Eva Longoria, Natalie Portman, Viola Davis, Alfre Woodard, Scarlett Johansson, Constance Wu, Adam Scott and Rob Reiner also addressed the crowd at the Los Angeles Women's March.
ABC/AP
Topics: arts-and-entertainment, film-movies, law-crime-and-justice, united-states
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