Did Scarlett Johansson Date Bobby Flay?

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Scarlett Johansson and Bobby Flay never dated, despite a report from exactly one year ago today that claimed they were “more than friends.” At the time, Gossip Cop busted the bogus premise, and now 365 days later it’s even more clear the story was 100 percent wrong. Since that inaccurate article, Johansson has become serious with Colin Jost, who she was already seeing back then.

On October 25, 2017, OK! published a piece about the chef and the actress that quickly went up in flames. According to the tabloid’s report, Flay and Johansson had recently been spotted on a “romantic night out” in New York. The magazine even noted she “has a thing for chefs,” and mentioned how Gordon Ramsay and the late Anthony Bourdain were among her “crushes.” The only other supposed bit of evidence the outlet offered was that Johansson likes “confident” men and “Bobby fits the bill.”

As we stated 12 months ago, just because the Avengers star has “a thing for chefs,” it didn’t mean she was dating Flay. She’s a foodie who appreciates fine food and its preparation. And it’s not that unique to be attracted to someone who’s “confident,” of which Jost also “fits the bill.”

More significantly, as Gossip Cop reported back then, Flay and Johansson’s night out was not a “dinner date,” as alleged by the publication. It was simply two friends grabbing a meal and catching up. Had the tabloid done a smidgeon of digging it would have found out the two have been pals for many years. While fact-checking the story, Gossip Cop learned from Johansson’s rep that the actress and Flay are actually neighbors in the Hamptons.

Now a full year has gone by and it’s obvious their time together was most assuredly not a “date,” and that Johansson was and still is dating Jost. What’s particularly bizarre is that a few days before OK! published its erroneous story, its sister magazine, the National Enquirer, wrongly maintained in another article Johansson and Jost were “rushing to the altar.” Back then, however, the actress and the “Saturday Night Live” head writer and “Weekend Update” anchor were in the early stages of seeing each other. Still, it was odd the two publications, which sometimes share content, ran contradictory stories — and both were untrue.

Gossip Cop sometimes returns to articles from a year earlier to show readers that falsehoods rarely, if ever, age well. Generally, fabricated tabloid stories fall apart over time. It’s unclear if the magazine relied on an untrustworthy source for its inaccurate tale or just manufactured it based on Johansson and Flay having been seen together in New York. Regardless, the “dinner date” report was nothing more than bad dish.