Johnny Depp's fans want him back as Jack Sparrow, demand Amber Heard's removal from 'Aquaman' after audio leak
A petition calling for Amber Heard's removal from 'Aquaman 2' has gathered over 100,000 signatures after recordings of her admitting to physically assaulting Johnny Depp surfaced over the weekend.
Heard plays Mera in the first DC movie, which grossed $1.14 billion at the box office. Pre-production on the sequel is slated to begin this year ahead of a December 2022 release date. Although not many details about the second installment have been released, it is believed that Heard will be reprising her role.
"As Amber Heard is a known and proven domestic abuser, Warner Brothers and DC Entertainment should and must remove Heard from their Aquaman 2 film project," petition creator Jeanne Larson wrote. "They must not ignore the suffering of Heard's victims and must not glamorize a domestic abuser. Men are victims of domestic abuse, just like women. This must be recognized, and action must be taken to prevent a known abuser from being celebrated within the entertainment industry."
While not mentioned in the petition, fans have also called for Depp to be reinstated as Captain Jack Sparrow in the famous 'Pirates Of The Caribbean' series.
In early 2019, Depp sued Heard for $50 million for defamation over an op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post in December 2018, which "depended on the central premise that Ms. Heard was a domestic abuse victim and that Mr. Depp perpetrated domestic violence against her."
Depp had claimed that as a result of the op-ed, he lost his role as Captain Jack Sparrow and because of the smear campaign by his ex-wife that followed, almost lost the role of Grindewald in 'Fantastic Beast 2: Crimes of Grindelwald'.
Heard, on the other hand, went on to star in 'Aquaman', sign an endorsement deal with L’Oreal and has become an ambassador for the United Nations.
While people rallied behind her professional success, calling out Depp for his bad karma at in the past, all of that changed when in a series of explosive tapes acquired by Daily Mail - dating back to 2015 - Heard was reportedly caught confessing to hitting Depp and throwing pots and pans at him during their marriage.
"You didn't get punched," she said in the tapes. "You got hit. I'm sorry I hit you like this. But I did not punch you. I did not f***ing deck you. I f***ing was hitting you. I don't know what the motion of my actual hand was, but you're fine, I did not hurt you, I did not punch you, I was hitting you."
Calling herself an "animal," she also warns that "I can't promise you I won't get physical again."
In one of the incidents of the time, she punched him twice in the face and another where she shattered his finger with a vodka bottle, and his finger had to be surgically reattached.
Heard filed for divorce from Depp on May 23, 2016, and obtained a temporary restraining order against him, stating in her court declaration that he had been verbally and physically abusive throughout their relationship, usually while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.