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ScarJo Splits With Oxfam Over West Bank SodaStream Situation
Scarlett Johansson (cinemafestival / Shutterstock.com)
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If there's one thing people love to get riled up over, it's soda and politics. Only this time, it's got nothing to do with taxes and everything to do with ScarJo's role as a spokeswoman for SodaStream.
ScarJo's racy Super Bowl commercial originally got some heat because it directly called out competitors Coke and Pepsi. But things bubbled up further when Oxfam saw her support of the company, which is currently operating out of controversial Israeli settlements on the West Bank, as a conflict of interest. So today, ScarJo resigned from her role at the nonprofit.
Oxfam accepted the 29-year-old actress' resignation, stating that they believed her role as a spokesperson for SodaStream was "incompatible" with her role as an Oxfam global ambassador.
According to the Times, Johansson defended her work with SodaStream saying she remains "a supporter of economic cooperation and social interaction between a democratic Israel and Palestine,"
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That didn't cut it for Oxfam though. The organization issued a statement saying, "Oxfam believes that businesses, such as SodaStream, that operate in settlements further the ongoing poverty and denial of rights of the Palestinian communities that we work to support ... which is opposed to all trade from Israeli settlements and deems them illegal under international law."
You can watch the original video below.
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