Johnny Depp claims he’s a victim of cancel culture amid $50m defamation lawsuit

Johnny Depp has claimed he’s become a victim of cancel culture as he prepares to accept the prestigious Donostia Award at the San Sebastian Film Festival.

The actor, 58, vowed that ‘no one is safe’ from the movement because it has become ‘so out of hand,’ amid his ongoing $50 million defamation lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard.  

Johnny made the comments as he prepared to take to the stage and accept his award given in recognition of his acclaimed body of acting work, with the Pirates Of The Caribbean star in high spirits as he arrived at a photocall for the event.

Ahead of taking to the stage to accept his award, Johnny offered his thoughts on cancel culture, and called on people to ‘stand up’ for those facing ‘injustice.’

Speaking at a press conference, as reported by Deadline he said: ‘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. 

‘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. 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.’

The publication reports that Johnny was happy to answer questions about the recent state of his career, amid his ongoing lawsuit against ex-wife Amber.

However, it’s claimed the actor was unable to respond to criticism aimed at the festival for giving him such an award, with organisers insisting he would only speak about his career.

Johnny later added that he was ‘worried’ that his presence at the festival would ‘offend people,’ and insisted he ‘didn’t want to offend anyone.’

Despite the mixed reception to his arrival at the festival, Johnny was in high spirits as he headed to the photocall ahead of his acceptance of the award. 

It comes after Depp was cleared by a court to proceed with a $50 million defamation suit against Amber Heard.

In August, a Virginia judge ruled that he can proceed with the litigation, based on a 2018 Washington Post op-ed she penned saying she was a domestic violence survivor.

She did not mention Depp in the story, though she publicly accused him of abusing her in their 2016 split. 

The actor is trying to clear his name after losing a defamation suit against The Sun after the paper branded him a ‘wife-beater’ amid allegations of domestic abuse.

His suit, filed in Fairfax County, Virginia, accuses Heard of creating a ‘hoax’ account; Heard had requested the libel suit against her, filed in March 2019, be thrown out, claiming the ruling in the UK case should swing any new cases in her favour because they both relate to domestic abuse allegations against Johnny.

But Judge Penny Azcarate ruled the statements made by The Sun and Amber were ‘inherently different.’ 

The ruling stated: ‘The Sun’s interests were based on whether the statements the newspaper published were false.

‘[Heard’s] interests relate to whether the statements she published were false.’

The ruling also noted that Depp filed the defamation suit against The Sun before Heard’s op-Ed was published – and that she was not named in the case against the British paper.

In the December 2018 op-Ed, the actress 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.’

The UK’s High Court ruled against Depp following an explosive three-week trial last July, finding allegations the actor was a ‘wife beater’ were ‘substantially true.’

Lawyers for The Pirates of the Caribbean star had asked two Court of Appeal judges to grant permission for him to challenge the ruling, with the aim of having its findings overturned and a second trial ordered.

They claimed the judge in Depp’s initial libel trial had not ‘factually’ considered all the allegations of violence against him and that they had ‘fresh evidence’ Amber had ‘lied’ about giving her entire $7 million divorce settlement to charity.

They said that the charity claim influenced how her testimony was viewed, but the Court of Appeal ruled that it did not have an impact on the judge and that he would have reached the same conclusion on Heard being the victim of domestic violence.