Today's Evil Beet Gossip

Scarlett Johansson Quit Oxfam Over the SodaStream Controversy

scarlett johansson sodastream

Here’s how it went down: Scarlett Johansson did a now-banned Super Bowl commercial for SodaStream, an awesome at-home soda maker that’s way too expensive for me to buy even though I really want one. Apparently SodaStream is an Israeli company, and everyone knows Israel does some fucked up shit on the West Bank (and beyond), so there’s been a big fall-out and now Scarlett has quit her position as ambassador of Oxfam because of their “fundamental difference of opinion” on the matter.

Apparently SodaStream has a factory in the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim, which Oxfam doesn’t recognise because it’s considered illegal under international law. So instead of giving up a fucking SodaStream endorsement, she decided to end her eight year relationship with Oxfam. Dear Lord. Here’s her statement:

“Scarlett Johansson has respectfully decided to end her ambassador role with Oxfam after eight years”.

“She and Oxfam have a fundamental difference of opinion in regards to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. She is very proud of her accomplishments and fundraising efforts during her tenure with Oxfam.”

And Oxfam’s statement, for good measure:

“While Oxfam respects the independence of our ambassadors, Ms Johansson’s role promoting the company SodaStream is incompatible with her role as an Oxfam Global Ambassador.”

I mean, it seems a little silly to me that you’d put a product placement above an organisation that works to fight poverty and injustice on a global scale, but who knows. Maybe my priorities are just not in the right place,, or maybe the Parisian rudeness is starting to wear off on her.

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6 CommentsLeave a comment

  • Finally someone standing up to this whole “boycott Israel” bullshit. The stupidity of people backing Oxfam’s political correctness campaign is astounding.

    When Palestinians stop teaching their kids that Israelis are the devil and all of Israel belongs to them, when they stop lobbing missiles and rockets into Israel at random, maybe the Palestinians can be trusted to not immediately start blowing themselves up again on buses, in restaurants and anywhere else civilians congregate.

    Yes, let’s all cheer for the Palestinians who danced in the streets on 9/11. Even their own Arab “brothers” despise them.

  • The Israeli’s do horrible things to the Palestinians as well, and the Israeli’s also cheered as the Towers fell. There are GRAVE injustices on BOTH sides. The Jews run Hollywood and Scarlett knows who butters her bread…it’s that simple.

    • Uh, you are mistaken about the Israelis cheering on 9/11. Maybe the douchebag Arab Israelis did, but certainly NOT the Jews. Please.

  • To be fair- I’ve had a sodastream for 4 years now and when I would buy 2 liter bottles of diet coke (8 of them at a time, 4 days a week) then carry all of that home on to a bus then up a hill then up 3 sets of stairs and I was paying 3$ a bottle, 24$ a run, and the machine costs 150$ and each bottle of pop I make with it costs like 45 cents.

    Obv. If you never drink pop/anything carbonated it’s a waste, but if it’s almost everything you drink, it saves so much money. (frustrating to find various flavours for cheap in canada but that’s a perk to traveling)

  • I mean, it’s all a little more convoluted than this. In Sodastream’s favor, the factory employs both Israeli and Palestinian workers, who evidently make LOTS more, and in a happier work environment, than other residents. It’s been a boon. But according to the UN the settlement itself is illegal. From a human rights vantage (and Oxfam’s), that Sodastream’s factory is there at all is in itself a tacit endorsement of Israel occupying Palestine.

    It’s shocking that Johansson would end her relationship with Oxfam after serving eight years as a goodwill ambassador; reportedly, Oxfam asked her to resign, so she did.