Background
On March 20th, 2011, StupidRumors.com reported that a group of hackers had obtained nude photos of 50 celebrities, including “Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Christina Aguilera, Vanessa Hudgens, Scarlett Johansson, Ali Larter, Busy Philipps, Miley Cyrus, Emma Caulfield, Addison Timlin and Renee Olstead.”
On September 14th, 2011, leaked nude photos of the 26-year-old actress Scarlett Johansson began circulating online. According to an article posted to The Washington Post’s blog, WorldStarHipHop.com was the first site to leak the photos online.
Developments
A post was made to Reddit titled “Scarlett Johansson Leaked Ass Picture” by MetalKeirSolid that reached the front page with over 23,803 up votes that day. It linked to a photo of the actress taken with her mirror showing her exposed buttocks in the reflection. The photos were subsequently posted to Perez Hilton and BuzzFeed the same day.
FBI
According to TMZ and The Washington Post, Johansson contacted the FBI to help find the individual who allegedly hacked into her cell phone and leaked the picture. ABC News reported that a “cell phone hacker ring” might be responsible for the Johansson leak, and that Mila Kunis had become a victim of the hacks as well.
Controversy
On Reddit, the images sparked a discussion about whether or not they should be celebrating the invasion of privacy of another person. A thread by Redditor aboutandy reached the frontpage where he asked the following question:
I know she is ungodly hot, but the fact is that these photos were stolen from her and she is probably humiliated right now. Should we really be so excited that these photos came out?
EXIF Data
To verify the authenticity of the photo, EXIF data was taken from a photo used in a real estate listing for her home that matched the nude photos. The images appear to have been taken with a Blackberry 9000 camera phone.
ScarlettJohansonning
On September 15, 2011, Gather posted an article titled “Scarlett Johansson Phone Hack Inspires ‘Naked Tush’ Meme” that described a new exposed buttock photo fad. The article linked to the “Tush” Tumblr blog that was compiling the derivatives under the tag “scarlettjohanssoning.”
The Actress
Scarlett Johansson was born in New York City on November 22nd, 1984 and spent her early life growing up in the Bronx in an Ashkenazi Jewish family. She received awards for her role as Charlotte in the 2003 film Lost in Translation from BAFTA, Boston Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics and Upsteam. In May of 2008 she released her first album, Anywhere I Lay My Head, consisting almost entirely of Tom Waits covers. She has a history of political activism, and campaigned for presidential candidates John Kerry and Barack Obama.
