Jurassic World Rebirth had its premiere in New York City on June 24, and thanks to its high-profile cast, it was a star-studded affair. The upcoming sequel in the long-running Jurassic Park franchise is set to have a wide release in theaters on July 2. Many of the film’s leading actors showed up for the red carpet. Aside from Scarlett Johanssen and Jonathan Bailey, the event also featured Mahershala Ali, Rupert Friend, Brianna LaPaglia and Luna Blaise. Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Bailey sparked fan conversations with their show of affection

Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Bailey are co-stars in Jurassic World Rebirth. | Credit: X

Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Bailey are the respective female and male leads of Jurassic World Rebirth. Scarlett Johansson plays Zora Bennett, a covert agent employed by the pharmaceutical company ParkerGenix. Jonathan Bailey plays Dr. Henry Loomis, a paleontologist who works with Zora. The two of them were photographed sharing a kiss at Jurassic World’s NYC premiere, which ended up generating a lot of buzz online and on social media. While Scarlett Johansson is in a relationship with comedian Colin Jost, Jonathan Bailey has been openly queer since 2018. While some users such as James Ford took offense to this kiss, with him saying “Colin Jost is my guy.”

Responses to his tweet stated that he should relax since the kiss doesn’t have the same implications due to Jonathan Bailey being gay. 

Other accounts pointed out that Johanssen and Bailey had also kissed each other last week at the London premiere, to little fanfare.

User Margaret Layne summed up her thoughts succinctly by saying “Some of y'all have never had a gay bestie, and it shows.”

Jurassic World  Rebirth is a standalone sequel in the long-running franchise 

Jurassic World Rebirth serves as a soft reboot to the storied Jurassic Park franchise. This is the first major film to release after the ending of the Chris-Pratt helmed Jurassic World trilogy, which consisted of Jurassic World, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Jurassic World Dominion. Jurassic World Rebirth, by contrast, follows an entirely new cast of characters.