Did actress Scarlett Johansson once say, "I am a Jew, and no amount of money in the world will tempt me to go against Israel?" No, that's not true: There is no record of Johansson ever having made this remark. A search on Google News shows no credible news reports of Johansson, who is Jewish, ever having said this.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Instagram on June 13, 2024. It stated:
Actress Scarlett Johansson officially declined to sign a contract with a company that required her to participate in a boycott against Israel.
'I am a Jew, and no amount of money in the world will tempt me to go against Israel.'
This is how the post appeared at the time of writing:
(Source: Instagram screenshot taken on Fri Jun 14 14:24:57 2024 UTC)
Johansson, who is Jewish, has never publicly said the quote attributed to her across multiple social media platforms. A Google search of keywords yields zero results for the quote, which would be major national and international news had it been true.
Using keywords, Lead Stories did a search on Google News, visible here, and found no reporting to corroborate the claim.
In 2014, Johansson starred in an advertising campaign for the company SodaStream, which owned a factory in an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. She then stepped down from her role as an ambassador for the nonprofit organization Oxfam when the organization criticized SodaStream. The Guardian reported (archived here) the statement from the actress in an article titled, "Scarlett Johansson steps down from Oxfam ambassador role," in January 2014:
'Scarlett Johansson has respectfully decided to end her ambassador role with Oxfam after eight years,' the statement said. 'She and Oxfam have a fundamental difference of opinion in regards to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. She is very proud of her accomplishments and fundraising efforts during her tenure with Oxfam.'
In an interview with The Guardian (archived here) in March 2014, Johansson defended her decision to stay with SodaStream, but she never said, "I am a Jew, and no amount of money in the world will tempt me to go against Israel."
Here is a video of Johansson's SodaStream commercial posted on YouTube:
Other Lead Stories fact checks discussing claims about the Hamas-Israel war can be found here.
