Scarlett Johansson Gives Iconic Explanation For Why She Won't Take Photos With Fans In Public

MCU Actor Scarlett Johansson recently spoke with InStyle magazine and shared a strict personal policy about not being photographed with fans when she's out in public.

“It really offends a lot of people,” she said, explaining why she wants to avoid fan photos when she's not on a film set.

“It doesn’t mean I’m not appreciative, of course, that people are fans, or happy to see me," she said, adding, "But I always say to people, ‘I’m not working.’ [And that means] I don’t want to be identified as being in this time and place with you. I’m doing my own thing.”

Johansson, who has been a vocal critic against relying on AI technology after her likeness was used without consent, added:

“I like to be in my own thoughts that have nothing to do with what other people think of me. I don’t like being self-conscious.”

Social media users understood where she was coming from.

Her line stuck with people.

Also in the magazine interview, Johansson opened up about that very dirty joke written about her on SNL, saying it was "so vulgar" and "I just can’t believe that they went there.”

The NSFW punchline was part of SNL's Christmas episode during the "Weekend Update" end-of-year annual joke swap between co-anchors Michael Che and Johansson's husband, Colin Jost.

The ritual entails Che and Jost reading aloud the joke they've written for each other that neither has read beforehand.

Johansson, who appeared for the December 21, 2024 episode's cold open, was backstage watching the segment on the monitor when Jost read the quip that Che wrote for him about his wife's vagina.

The camera cut to Johansson, whose jaw was on the floor.

The joke that Jost had to read live on air went:

“Costco has removed the roast beef sandwich from their menu."

"But I ain’t tripping. I’ve been eating roast beef every night since my wife had the kid.”

Jost face-palmed as the studio audience gasped and howled in hysterics.

“It was so vulgar,” Johansson told the magazine, and continued:

“I just can't believe that they went there. I was like—it was so gross. It was really gross.”

She started to laugh over the depravity of the joke, adding that it was "Like, old-school gross.”

Despite the lewdness, Johansson, who gave birth to her and Jost's son in August 2021, remained a good sport.

“My experience of it was so funny," she said.

Johansson explained that the producers gave her advance warning of a "vagina joke" that Che wrote for Jost to read before filming, but it didn't occur to her that it would come at her expense.

“I was like, 'I mean, it's a vagina joke, how bad could it be?' And then, as soon as the Costco photo came up, I was like 'No! No, Michael!'," said the Hollywood A-lister.

She also recalled how the camera crew capturing her raw reaction to the joke from backstage was overwhelming.

“The fact that it took on a full To Catch a Predator-style reveal or whatever,” she said, laughing. She referenced the Dateline series featuring confrontational setups involving hidden cameras and adult men arriving at a sting house to have sex with a minor, consequently leading to an arrest.

Johansson said of the backstage ambush:

"That was so intense. All of a sudden, it was like a whole bunch of people holding up lights, and a guy with a video camera.”

“They were waiting for me to react. I felt insane."

She had been at the studio at Rockefeller Center all day, and by that point, Johansson said, “I was like, 'I think I'm going to faint.'”

Fulfilling a longtime bucket list, ScarJo will star in the newest installment in the Jurassic Park franchise, Jurassic World Rebirth, a standalone sequel to 2022's Jurassic World Dominion, directed by Gareth Edwards and written by David Koepp.

Jurassic Park alum Jeff Goldblum surprised her with the casting announcement during a live broadcast of NBC's Today Show last year.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe Jeff said that to me. I think my life is complete now. I can retire," she joked with the morning show host, Savannah Guthrie.

She will be leading the ensemble cast that includes Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, David Iacono, and Ed Skrein.

Johansson will also make her directorial debut with the upcoming drama film Eleanor the Great starring June Squibb as the titular character.