Thai Cave Rescue Has Everyone Making the Same Scarlett Johansson Joke

You’ve probably already guessed what it is

scarlett johansson
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Now that the anxiety over the rescue of a youth soccer team from a flooded cave in Thailand has subsided, it’s time for the jokes — and the wags on Twitter apparently feel they’ve found the ideal butt in Scarlett Johansson.

Following news Tuesday that all 12 players and their coach had been rescued — and that Hollywood has already begun its inevitable rush to turn the real-life drama into a film — social media jokers turned its eyes to Johansson. And essentially made the same joke about the actress, who has more than once been criticized for seeming to take on roles outside of her race and gender.

“Congrats to Scarlett Johansson who just got cast as all 12 Thai soccer players,” one Twitter wiseacre chimed in.

(Very) similarly, there was also, “Scarlett Johansson to play all 12 Thai boys in upcoming rescue thriller.”

“I hope scarlett johansson plays all 12 thai boys and their coach in the film adaptation,” read another, familiar-sounding post.

There were, thankfully, some variations on the theme. Such as, “I can’t wait to see the Oscar winning movie about the Thai Soccer team stuck in the cave that will inevitably be about an all white lacrosse team that gets stuck in a cave in Cabo staring Scarlett Johansson, Emma Stone, Tilda Swinton and a Thai person with a one line walk on role.”

And, “BREAKING: in a shocking twist, Scarlett Johansson has NOT been cast as all 12 Thai children in the upcoming film about the cave rescue and instead will only be playing the role of the cave itself.”

And, “Scarlett Johansson just announced to play Thai soccer coach.”

Earlier this month, Johansson came under fire when it was announced that she would star in the upcoming film “Rub & Tug.” The film is based on the life of Dante “Tex” Gill, a massage parlor owner in Pittsburgh in the 1970s and ’80s, who, according to an obituary, was known as “the woman who prefers to be known as a man.” The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette obit also said Gill may have undergone “the initial stages of a sex change that made her appear masculine.”

Online critics took that to mean Gill was a transgender man, and questioned whether Johansson, a woman, is the right person for the role.

The casting was also criticized by trans author Jennifer Finney Boylan, who in a New York Times opinion piece likened it to Mickey Rooney playing an Asian man in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”

The actress found herself in a similar position last year, after she was accused of whitewashing for taking on the role of cybernetic hero Motoko Kusanagi in the live-action remake of “Ghost in the Shell.”

Johansson defended her casting in that role, telling “Good Morning America” host Michael Strahan that Kusanagi is an “identity-less” character because of her nature as a cyborg, which is where the series gets its title from.

“I think this character is living a very unique experience in that she has a human brain in an entirely machinate body,” Johansson said. “I would never attempt to play a person of a different race, obviously. Hopefully, any question that comes up of my casting will be answered by audiences when they see the film.”

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