Scarlett Johansson Leaked Nudes

Background

On March 20th, 2011, StupidRumors.com^[9] 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.”

Developments

September 13th – 14th: Photo Leak Begins

On September 13th and 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^[5], WorldStarHipHop.com^[6] was the first site to leak the photos online.

A post was made to Reddit titled “Scarlett Johansson Leaked Ass Picture”^[1] 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^[2] and BuzzFeed^[7] the same day.

September 14th: Online Reaction

On Reddit^[10], 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?

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.

Derivatives

September 15th: ScarlettJohansonning

On September 15, 2011, Gather^[11] 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”^[12] Tumblr blog that was compiling the derivatives under the tag #Scarlettjohanssoning.

October 12th: FBI Investigation & Arrest

According to TMZ^[3] and The Washington Post^[4], 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.

On October 12th, 2011, TMZ^[13] reported that the FBI arrested a 35-year-old Florida male resident named Christopher Chaney in the case, dubbed “Operation Hackerazzi.” Although the initial investigative report didn’t reveal any specific names, the man reportedly hacked into the phones and computers of celebrities including Scarlette Johansson, Vanessa Hudgens, Ali Larter, Jessica Alba, and Emma Caulfield. Gawker^[14] reported that the man used the handle “Gook” and was an active 4chan user. According to the Los Angeles Times blog^[15], though the FBI investigation began in 2010, Scarlett Johansson contacting the FBI after her photos leaked may have sped up the arrests.

According to a grand jury indictment, Chaney used multiple aliases to acquire private information and nude photos belonging to celebrities including Scarlett Johansson, Christina Aguilera and Mila Kunis. In all, more than 50 victims have been identified and the man has been charged with crimes including accessing protected computers without authorization, damaging protected computers without authorization, wiretapping and aggravated identity theft. If convicted on all counts, Chaney may face up to 121 years in federal prison.

The follow-up FBI conference also revealed that Chaney hacked into dozens of celebrities’ personal email accounts and there are other leads in the investigation that they plan on pursuing.

November 1st: Johansson Responds

In an interview with the December 2011 issue of Vanity Fair, Scarlett commented on the photo leak, stating that they were originally taken for her husband at the time, Ryan Reynolds.^[16] She said that she found nothing wrong with taking them^[17], and said that she “knows her best angles,”^[18] unashamed of the photos.

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.

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