'Avengers' Star Blasts Dem Party Ahead of 2020: 'Broken in a Lot of Ways'
Actress Scarlett Johansson voiced uncertainty over former Vice President Joe Biden as she admitted that the pack of Democratic 2020 presidential contenders has left her puzzled over which to support.
Johansson, who plays Black Widow in the new movie “Avengers: Endgame,” backed former President Barack Obama in 2012 and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016.
But in an interview with Variety posted to YouTube last week, she said she was not yet ready to pick her choice for 2020.
“I think I have to do a little soul-searching. I think the Democratic Party is broken in a lot of ways and just damaged from these past several years. For me, if there was one candidate that I felt we could all unite behind, certainly that would be the candidate that I would back,” she said.
Johansson endorsed recent comments by Obama that Democrats often harm their own cause through internecine attacks over the alleged purity of policies.
“It seems like a fundamental problem. It’s hard with a two-party system, it really is. And until we embrace some other way I think we’re going to continue to have this crisis,” she said.
The interview can be seen here. The talk about the 2020 election starts about the 4:20 mark.
Journalist Marc Malkin asked Johansson about Biden, who tops many preference polls, but has also been criticized for a years-long habit of touching much younger women, often without their consent.
Malkin asked whether Biden “has a shot after everything that’s happened.”
“I don’t know,” Johansson replied, following that up by adding, “I’m not sure.”
The makings of an astute politician, when asked her opinion she chimed in on Biden’s chances: “I don’t know,” Johansson replied “I’m not sure,” she added. via @qz https://t.co/klNYNDpgZk
— Weiyee In (@weiyee) April 26, 2019
“I mean it’s been a strange few weeks. I think it was clear and then it became sort of unclear,” she said.
Johansson said there was no “clear candidate” that she had settled upon “quite yet.”
“Although now is certainly the time to back someone,” she added. “They’re out there, certainly.”
Might she be a candidate one day?
“Maybe some time in the future,” she said. “I think the greatest way to effect change is in local politics. Maybe at some point in the distant future I will feel that calling, but I just haven’t.”
At the beginning of the Variety interview, Johansson said she had high hopes for “Avengers: Endgame.”
“One thing I can say is that my hope is … this is a cathartic experience for the audience. I hope that it has a bittersweet, satisfying feeling for people,” she said.
Johansson said the roughly three-hour length of the movie is not a barrier to its enjoyment.
“I feel like people can handle three hours. I don’t remember what the running time of ‘Infinity War’ was. It must have been somewhere around-ish the three-hour mark. I found it to be just riveting. It goes by really fast.
“I think it’s OK. I have faith people can handle it,” she said.
Judging by the box office reaction to the film, she was right.
“Avengers: Endgame” made $1.2 billion worldwide in its opening, CNN reported.
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