Scarlett Johansson
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Scarlett Johansson appeared on Monday night’s ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ along with her ‘Avengers: Endgame’ costars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, and Paul Rudd and the group seemed to have fun chatting up their new movie.  But after the taping, things got serious quickly, as Johansson was pursued, or as she called it, “stalked” by paparazzi after leaving, even after getting into her car.  In a statement to Entertainment Tonight, Johansson revealed:

“I was followed by 5 cars full of men with blacked out windows who were running red lights and putting other drivers and pedestrians at risk so they could follow me to find out where I was staying and subsequently stalk me and my young daughter for the duration of my stay.”

She added that she has been stalked by the paparazzi in the past, including in situations that involved her daughter, such as going to the playground.  In her statement, she referenced Princess Diana, who was killed in a car accident in 1997, after being chased by photographers.  After that event, laws were supposed to be changed to make such stalking illegal, but as Johansson noted, “the laws were never changed to protect targets from the lawless paparazzi.”

 

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Johansson’s team took her to the Los Angeles police, where she sought advice but did not press charges– most likely because the identities of the pursuers were unknown.

A representative for the LAPD made this statement:

“Last night, Scarlett Johansson was at Jimmy Kimmel. At some point in time, the paparazzi overpowered her security and for her security reasons and for her security team, they were taken to the Hollywood police station.  At that point, she was later able to leave the station. There was no crime report taken. She was just a little spooked.”

‘Avengers’ hysteria is in overload, as tickets quickly became the fastest-selling in history, with some opening day seats being sold online for thousands of dollars.  But while car chases are the norm for action movies, they shouldn’t be in real life.

Below, you can read Johansson’s entire statement:

“The paparazzi consistently go to increasingly dangerous lengths to stalk and harass the people they are photographing.  Even after Princess Diana’s tragic death, the laws were never changed to protect targets from the lawless paparazzi. Many paparazzi have criminal pasts and will perform criminal acts to get their shot.

“Yesterday, after leaving the Jimmy Kimmel Show, I was followed by 5 cars full of men with blacked out windows who were running red lights and putting other drivers and pedestrians at risk so they could follow me to find out where I was staying and subsequently stalk me and my young daughter for the duration of my stay.

“The paparazzi put people’s lives at risk, so they can wait for days in quiet neighborhoods in blacked out cars, and try to follow me to the playground and photograph my child and other people’s children in a safe place that should be off limits, but isn’t.  All of this is perfectly legal. After yesterday’s incident, I felt it was my duty as a concerned citizen who was being pursued dangerously and stalked to go to the local precinct and seek guidance there. I would encourage others in a similar situation to go to the police.

“Women across the US are stalked, harassed and frightened and a universal law to address stalking must be at the forefront of law enforcement conversations. Until paparazzi are considered by the law for the criminal stalkers they are, it’s just a waiting game before another person gets seriously injured or killed, like Princess Diana.”

‘Avengers: Endgame’ opens on April 26, but until then, maybe we can chill just a little.