PEOPLE
Scarlett Johansson says comments she made on the “authentic casting” debate have been taken out of context and asserts that she supports diversity in film.
The actress came under fire in 2017 for playing an Asian character in “Ghost in the Shell” and canceled plans last year to portray a transgender man in the upcoming film “Rub & Tug,” after transgender actors and advocates questioned the casting.
In a recent interview with As If magazine, she said actors should be allowed to play any person “because that is my job and the requirement of my job.”
Johansson said Saturday that those comments were subsequently edited in other publications for “clickbait.”
“I personally feel that, in an ideal world, any actor should be able to play anybody and Art, in all forms, should be immune to political correctness,” she said in a statement. “I recognize that in reality, there is a wide spread discrepancy amongst my industry that favors Caucasian, cisgender actors and that not every actor has been given the same opportunities that I have been privileged to.”
BOSTON — A hearing has been scheduled for next month in the indecent assault and battery case against celebrity chef Mario Batali.Batali did not appear at a brief pre-trial hearing in a Boston courtroom on Friday.A spokeswoman for the Suffolk District Attorney says the next hearing will be Aug. 30 when a defense motion will be heard. Batali pleaded not guilty May 24 to a charge that he forcibly kissed and groped a woman at a Boston restaurant in 2017. His career crumbled in the wake of that and other accusations.
KINSTON, N.C. — Vivian Howard, the North Carolina chef and television host of “A Chef's Life” is returning to PBS next year with a new show “South by Somewhere,” according to news outlets.The six-part series will explore the intersection of Southern food with the cuisines of other cultures.By Associated Press
