Scarlett Johansson defends Travolta’s Oscars kiss: ‘Totally sweet and totally welcome’
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Scarlett Johansson is defendng John Travolta’s impromptu kiss on the Oscars red carpet Sunday.
Settle down, folks. “The Avengers” star said there was nothing strange about the encounter — though many social media users (and anyone with working eyeballs) may fervently disagree.
The 30-year-old actress told the Associated Press on Thursday that the image of the kiss was “an unfortunate still-frame from a live-action encounter that was totally sweet and totally welcome.”
FULL COVERAGE: Oscars 2015
“There is nothing at all strange, creepy or inappropriate about John Travolta,” the actress said, adding that he’s a “class act.”
The “Pulp Fiction” actor, who costarred with Johansson in 2004’s “A Love Song for Bobby Long,” appeared behind the Versace-clad actress on the red carpet, placed his hand on her waist and kissed her right cheek. Johansson didn’t appear to react much to the incident but her blank expression instantly became a meme and launched several “caption this”-style reactions.
Travolta didn’t fare well after that.
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Johansson blamed the viral nature of the moment as “misguided, misinformed and sensationalized by the 24-hour news cycle.”
The “Saturday Night Fever” star’s camp told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday that the incident was taken out of context.
“If you watch the video in its entirety, of John and Scarlett on the red carpet,” his rep said, “you will see there’s nothing out of the ordinary. They’re just two friends greeting one another on the red carpet.”
And that was only the first of the 61-year-old actor’s headline-making maneuvers that night. In an effort to rectify his Adele Dazeem flub from last year’s Academy Awards, the actor also came under fire for incessantly touching Idina Menzel’s face when they co-presented the Oscar for original song.
However, his rep said that “the entire bit was rehearsed.”
Maybe that stunt was misguided too?
Follow me on Twitter @NardineSaad.
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