World War III might destroy us all this summer, but multiple nuclear bombs wouldn’t be strong enough to destroy Johnny Depp‘s victim mentality.
“I’ll tell you what hurts. There are people, and I’m thinking of three, who did me dirty. Those people were at my kids’ parties. Throwing them in the air,” he said. (Name names, you chickenshit!) “And, look, I understand people who could not stand up [for me] because the most frightening thing to them was making the right choice.” And…? Making what they deem to be the “right choice” is an important thing for a lot of people!
His suit against Heard wasn’t the first time he sued because someone called him out for being a(n alleged) domestic abuser. In 2020, Depp sued The Sun, a British tabloid, for defamation after it called him a “wife beater.” Crucially, Depp lost that case because the judge found that the “great majority of alleged assaults of Ms. Heard by Mr. Depp have been proved.” Depp fans hate to talk about that. (That’s right, Depp fans! I’m calling you delusional!)
“I was pre-#MeToo,” he declared to the Times. “I was like a crash test dummy for #MeToo. It was before Harvey Weinstein. And I sponged it, took it all in. And so I wanted from the hundreds of people I’ve met in that industry to see who was playing it safe. Better go woke!”
First of all, this is like, two-thirds incoherent. Second, activist Tarana Burke created the MeToo hashtag and movement in 2006, over a decade before it reached the entertainment industry. Third, the New York Times and New Yorker published the first allegations against Weinstein (which sparked the broader movement) in 2017; Depp didn’t sue Heard for defamation until 2019, after she wrote in 2018 Washington Post op-ed (in which she didn’t name him) that she had been a victim of domestic violence. So the actual facts do not support Depp’s self-victimization timeline.
Despite his persecution complex, since hounding Heard out of the film industry, Depp has: walked in the Savage X Fenty show (20220; made a surprise appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards (2022); gone on a European tour with his band Hollywood Vampires (2023); and had an art exhibit in New York City (2024). Also last year, he screened his second directorial effort, Modi: Three Days on the Wing of Madness, at Italy’s San Sebastián International Film Festival, and received a standing ovation. That film is out in July; Depp is also starring alongside Penelope Cruz in Day Drinker, which is slated for a 2026 release.
When asked about his “comeback,” he told the Times, “Honestly? I didn’t go anywhere.” Yeah, we fucking know.
- Jesus Christ, Ezra Miller is back, too. [Entertainment Weekly]
- Ariana Grande agrees that we should impeach Donald Trump over bombing Iran. [Pop Crave]
- Margaret Cho called Ellen DeGeneres a “mean girl.” [Page Six]
- Cole Escola on the cover of New York magazine. <3 [Vulture]
- Can someone just delete Justin Bieber‘s social media? [Daily Mail]
- Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez‘s big Italian fiasco is this week. [TMZ]
Like what you just read? You’ve got great taste. Subscribe to Jezebel, and for $5 a month or $50 a year, you’ll get access to a bunch of subscriber benefits, including getting to read the next article (and all the ones after that) ad-free. Plus, you’ll be supporting independent journalism—which, can you even imagine not supporting independent journalism in times like these? Yikes.