Fans call on Disney and Warner Bros. to publicly apologize to Johnny Depp

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By stefan armitage

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Following Johnny Depp's high-profile victory over ex-wife Amber Heard in their defamation case, fans are seeking an apology for the actor.

On Wednesday, jurors came to a unanimous decision in the 58-year-old actor's trial against ex-wife Amber Heard.

After reportedly deliberating for around 12 hours over three days, the court ruled that Depp was entitled to $10 million in compensatory damages and punitive damages of $5 million. Although, Virginia state law caps punitive damages at $350,000.

Meanwhile, the jury also awarded 36-year-old Heard $2 million in damages based on her $100 million countersuit.

Watch the moment the verdict was revealed in court:

Following Depp's win, his fans are looking for apologies from both Disney and Warner Bros. after the actor was dropped from the Pirates of the Caribbean and Fantastic Beasts franchises, respectively.

In an Instagram post back in the fall of 2020, the Depp revealed that he was asked by Warner Bros to resign from the role of Gellert Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts movies following headlines surrounding his arduous separation from Heard and his subsequent libel case against The Sun.

size-large wp-image-1263154679
Credit: Entertainment Pictures / Alamy

Per CNN, Depp had attempted to sue the British tabloid and executive editor Dan Wootton after an article was published featuring the headline: "GONE POTTY: How can JK Rowling be 'genuinely happy' casting wife-beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?"

Depp has repeatedly denied any allegations that he was ever physically violent toward his ex-wife.

In 2018, it was also revealed that Disney was no longer looking to cast Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in any future Pirates of the Caribbean movies. The news came shortly after Heard's op-ed in The Washington Post, in which, she referred to herself as a "public figure representing domestic abuse".

Disney never attributed any allegations as the reasoning behind dropping Depp from the movies.

In fact, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, president of the production at Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Sean Bailey was asked if the franchise could survive without Depp, to which he responded:

"We want to bring in a new energy and vitality. I love the [Pirates] movies, but part of the reason Paul [Wernick] and Rhett [Reese] are so interesting is that we want to give it a kick in the pants. And that’s what I’ve tasked them with."

When delivering his testimony last month in his defamation case against Heard, Depp spoke about how he felt betrayed by being let go by Disney officials.

"Having added much of myself, much of my own rewriting, the dialogue, the scenes, the jokes, I didn't quite understand how after that long relationship and quite a successful relationship with Disney that... suddenly I was guilty until proven innocent," Depp told the court.

Now, fans want an apology - and they have been taking to Twitter to call out both movie studios in the wake of the verdict.

"@Disney @DisneyStudios so you guys gonna like publicly apologize to Johnny Depp? Maybe tripling his salary to return to #PiratesoftheCaribbean would be a lovely start," one person tweeted.

Another added: "WARNER BROTHERS & DISNEY NEED TO FORMALLY APOLOGIZE TO JOHNNY DEPP"

And a third wrote: "@Disney I think you owe Captain Jack Sparrow an apology..and be sure to grovel!"

"Johnny Deep won," wrote a fourth. "Disney and Warner Bros must publicly apologize, and put #JohnnyDepp back where he belongs. Everyone knows that no one can play these roles better than him, but he said he will never play as Captain Jack again. I will never forgive Amber and Disney."

However, if Disney were to reach out to Depp to once again return to the PotC franchise, he has made it clear in his recent testimonies that he would never return as Captain Jack.

He said that even if Disney offered him "$300 million and a million alpacas," he wouldn't work with the movie studio again.

Featured image credit: Hollywood Archive / Alamy

Fans call on Disney and Warner Bros. to publicly apologize to Johnny Depp

vt-author-image

By stefan armitage

Article saved!Article saved!

Following Johnny Depp's high-profile victory over ex-wife Amber Heard in their defamation case, fans are seeking an apology for the actor.

On Wednesday, jurors came to a unanimous decision in the 58-year-old actor's trial against ex-wife Amber Heard.

After reportedly deliberating for around 12 hours over three days, the court ruled that Depp was entitled to $10 million in compensatory damages and punitive damages of $5 million. Although, Virginia state law caps punitive damages at $350,000.

Meanwhile, the jury also awarded 36-year-old Heard $2 million in damages based on her $100 million countersuit.

Watch the moment the verdict was revealed in court:

Following Depp's win, his fans are looking for apologies from both Disney and Warner Bros. after the actor was dropped from the Pirates of the Caribbean and Fantastic Beasts franchises, respectively.

In an Instagram post back in the fall of 2020, the Depp revealed that he was asked by Warner Bros to resign from the role of Gellert Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts movies following headlines surrounding his arduous separation from Heard and his subsequent libel case against The Sun.

size-large wp-image-1263154679
Credit: Entertainment Pictures / Alamy

Per CNN, Depp had attempted to sue the British tabloid and executive editor Dan Wootton after an article was published featuring the headline: "GONE POTTY: How can JK Rowling be 'genuinely happy' casting wife-beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?"

Depp has repeatedly denied any allegations that he was ever physically violent toward his ex-wife.

In 2018, it was also revealed that Disney was no longer looking to cast Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in any future Pirates of the Caribbean movies. The news came shortly after Heard's op-ed in The Washington Post, in which, she referred to herself as a "public figure representing domestic abuse".

Disney never attributed any allegations as the reasoning behind dropping Depp from the movies.

In fact, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, president of the production at Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Sean Bailey was asked if the franchise could survive without Depp, to which he responded:

"We want to bring in a new energy and vitality. I love the [Pirates] movies, but part of the reason Paul [Wernick] and Rhett [Reese] are so interesting is that we want to give it a kick in the pants. And that’s what I’ve tasked them with."

When delivering his testimony last month in his defamation case against Heard, Depp spoke about how he felt betrayed by being let go by Disney officials.

"Having added much of myself, much of my own rewriting, the dialogue, the scenes, the jokes, I didn't quite understand how after that long relationship and quite a successful relationship with Disney that... suddenly I was guilty until proven innocent," Depp told the court.

Now, fans want an apology - and they have been taking to Twitter to call out both movie studios in the wake of the verdict.

"@Disney @DisneyStudios so you guys gonna like publicly apologize to Johnny Depp? Maybe tripling his salary to return to #PiratesoftheCaribbean would be a lovely start," one person tweeted.

Another added: "WARNER BROTHERS & DISNEY NEED TO FORMALLY APOLOGIZE TO JOHNNY DEPP"

And a third wrote: "@Disney I think you owe Captain Jack Sparrow an apology..and be sure to grovel!"

"Johnny Deep won," wrote a fourth. "Disney and Warner Bros must publicly apologize, and put #JohnnyDepp back where he belongs. Everyone knows that no one can play these roles better than him, but he said he will never play as Captain Jack again. I will never forgive Amber and Disney."

However, if Disney were to reach out to Depp to once again return to the PotC franchise, he has made it clear in his recent testimonies that he would never return as Captain Jack.

He said that even if Disney offered him "$300 million and a million alpacas," he wouldn't work with the movie studio again.

Featured image credit: Hollywood Archive / Alamy