Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson has slammed Ivanka Trump as “cowardly” for not publicly criticising her father, Donald Trump, when she disagrees with his government’s decisions.
Speaking at the Women in the World Summit in New York on Friday morning (Australian time), Johansson said she was disappointed by Ivanka’s ‘I speak to him behind closed doors’ defence.
“I thought to myself, ‘Well that’s empowering!’ I mean, how old fashioned,” she said during an on-stage interview with Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington.
“This idea that ‘behind a great man is a great woman’. What about being in front of that person or next to them or standing on your own?
“I think powerful women often get concerned with this idea that they’re going to be seen in this unforgiving light. Screw that! It’s so old-fashioned, it’s so uninspired and, actually I think, really cowardly. And I was just so disappointed by that interview that she gave.”
The star of the new Ghost in the Shell movie sparked the feud by appearing in a skit on Saturday Night Live mocking Ivanka for being “complicit” in Mr Trump’s administration.
Ivanka responded in a TV interview this week by saying she was using her behind-the-scenes role at the White House to be a “force for good”.
“If being complicit is wanting to be a force for good and to make a positive impact, then I’m complicit,” she said.
“I would say not to conflate lack of public denouncement with silence.”
Ms Trump insisted she was speaking out on issues, just not publicly. “In some cases it’s through protest and it’s through going on the nightly news and talking about or denouncing every issue in which you disagree with.”
When asked about Ivanka’s interview, Johansson said she was “baffled”.
Ivanka Trump is an informal adviser to her father and has an office in the West Wing.
Her husband, Jared Kushner, also employed as an adviser, is thought to wield enormous power, even to the point where he can overrule campaign adviser Steve Bannon.
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