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Dakota Johnson has a way of going viral every time she opens her mouth. Recall her famous interview with Ellen where she called out the talk show host about a birthday party invite with the immortal phrase: “Actually, no, Ellen, that’s not the truth.” Then there was the viral limes moment where she declared “I love limes” in an Architectural Digest video only to reveal later she’s allergic to them.
A few months ago it was the trailer for her new film Madame Web, in which she utters the unwittingly hilarious line: “He was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died.”
Now, Johnson’s gone viral once again for her perplexed response to that line. When a Huffington Post interviewer tried to explain that it sounds funny in the trailer because it’s out of context, she replied: “Isn’t any sentence out of context – out of context? What a silly thing.” (Of course, what the interviewer didn’t mention was that it amused viewers because it’s such a long-winded, poorly-written piece of dialogue, and Johnson’s monotone delivery makes it even funnier.)
Johnson’s press tour for Madame Web has been full of peculiar moments like these. A headline for a profile in the Wall Street Journal reads: Dakota Johnson Likes to Sleep for 14 Hours a Night. She quipped that appearing in the season finale of The Office was the worst time of her life.
For the most part, Johnson’s behavior in these interviews has delighted users online. They like that she’s so unbothered and doesn’t care what people think of her or how she comes off. She also seems to be fairly offline, if her confusion about the viral line is any indication.
For casual fans on the internet, it’s not necessarily Johnson’s filmography or acting prowess that endears her to them. Instead, it’s her celebrity persona and her somewhat antagonistic relationship with the press that’s made her popular. “Dakota Johnson has killed before and will kill again,” Louis Peitzman wrote on X in response to the awkward interview moment. “We’re playing checkers while she plays 4D chess,” Evan Ross Katz said on Instagram.
Johnson’s comments don’t always generate goodwill. On The Today Show, Johnson was asked about the nepo baby discourse and she responded: “If you’re a journalist, write about something else. That’s just, like, lame.” The comments on the video on X are filled with users coming for Johnson’s annoyed retort.
“she’s not a good enough actress to be so indignant about it,” wrote one user. “she’s a bad actress and with the personality of an asparagus,” wrote another. Some of Johnson’s haters brought up her previous comments defending Armie Hammer and Shia Labeouf against “cancel culture” as a reason she should never be trusted in the first place.
Dakota Johnson does have true stans, those that will go to bat for her and pledge their support no matter what. There are plenty of X users calling her “mother” and posting sexy fancams of the actress. “THANK GOD FOR NEPOTISM i scream every time Dakota Johnson opens her mouth,” wrote one such fan.
But for the most part, Johnson doesn’t inspire deep devotion or intense hatred. Fairweather fans who crop up during every press tour can’t help but be charmed by her, but they’re unlikely to mount a full-blown defense when push comes to shove.
Why it matters
The internet is a fickle place, and public opinion can change on a dime. Dakota Johnson is popular enough to have an extemporaneous fan base, but her fame is primarily sustained by viral moments.
The iconoclast nepo baby is far from universally beloved, but guess what? She doesn’t care.
