Johnny Depp has condemned the cancel culture movement, which he has likened to ‘polluted air’ and fears ‘no one is safe’.
The former Fantastic Beasts actor is currently embroiled in an ongoing legal battle with ex-wife Amber Heard, after losing a libel trial against The Sun’s publisher last year over an article that branded him a ‘wife-beater’.
On Wednesday, Depp, 58, made an appearance at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain where he was to receive the honorary Donostia Award.
According to Deadline, the Edward Scissorhands actor addressed how some public opinion has gone against him in light of the court case.
‘It can be seen as an event in history that lasted for however long it lasted, this cancel culture, this instant rush to judgement based on what essentially amounts to polluted air,’ Depp is quoted as saying.
‘It’s so far out of hand now that I can promise you that no one is safe. Not one of you. No one out that door. No one is safe. It takes one sentence and there’s no more ground, the carpet has been pulled.’
He added: ‘It’s not just me that this has happened to, it’s happened to a lot of people. This type of thing has happened to women, men. Children have suffered from various types of unpleasantries. Sadly at a certain point they begin to think that it’s normal. Or that it’s them. When it’s not.’
Depp then urged the public to ‘stand up, don’t sit down’ because ‘someone you love’ who may face the wrath of cancel culture will ‘need [them]’.
The Hollywood star later expressed his ‘worry’ that his presence at the festival ‘would offend people’ and he ‘didn’t want to offend anyone’. He’s then said to have thanked organisers for their ‘undying support’ and for ‘not buying what has been, for far too long, some notion of me that doesn’t exist’.
He then insisted: ‘I haven’t done anything, I just make movies.’
Depp appeared to be in high spirits at the festival as he was pictured blowing kisses and victoriously raising a fist while greeting the audience as he accepted his award.
In August, a judge ruled that the actor will be allowed to have a second libel trial despite losing the first one. The court decided that the first outcome should not derail his second case against ex-wife Heard, which is set to take place in Virginia, United States, next year.
Depp suing Heard, 35, over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed, in which she wrote: ‘I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out.’
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