NEW YORK — Scarlett Johansson has pulled out of the film “Rub & Tug” after her plans to portray a transgender man prompted a backlash.

In a statement to Out.com on Friday, Johansson said she’s withdrawing from the project “in light of recent ethical questions raised surrounding my casting.”

Last week, Johansson said she would star as prostitution ring leader Dante “Tex” Gill, who was born Lois Jean Gill but identified as a man.

Johansson previously came under fire for playing an originally Asian character in the 2017 film “Ghost in the Shell.”

– From news service reports