Johnny Depp Appeared At The VMAs And The Internet Has Thoughts
Johnny Depp's "comeback" at the VMAs was not what anybody was expecting.
The MTV Video Music Awards were last night and the show is always good for some entertainment, even if MTV hasn’t necessarily been focused on music videos for years. Taylor Swift brought the house down, as she almost always does, but a lot of the interest in last night’s show came from a very strange place. Johnny Depp made his “comeback” performance, following a series of legal challenges, appearing as the MTV Moon Man, with his face projected into a floating spacesuit at various points during the night.
As one might expect, the internet has a variety of thoughts regarding Johnny Depp’s return in such a public forum. Fans were thrilled. Those that were unhappy with the defamation Verdict were upset, and everybody was just plain weirded out by the whole thing. And it’s not hard to understand why, it was all very weird. Give it a look.
Johnny Depp appears as the moon person at the #VMAs. https://t.co/K3f4GrgiuJ pic.twitter.com/S0dkWrR6mrAugust 29, 2022
Johnny Depp would appear from time to time during the show, with his face projected into the spacesuit, because he wasn't actually at the show. From there, he would make a random comment or bad joke, and then the show would move on. It was a strange way to stage a comeback to be sure.
Why is a Johnny depp computer screen being hoisted around the vmas like this pic.twitter.com/N7veURxfRcAugust 29, 2022
Some found the whole thing to be quite intentionally funny, but others found the humor to be more on the simply ridiculous side. While the VMAs have been the location for iconic and even historic moments in the past, the show has sometimes missed the mark and instead created moments that were more embarrassing that hilarious, and some people felt this was one of those.
Which dangling VMA celebrity was more embarrassing?A. Howard Stern as FartmanB. Johnny Depp's face projected onto the MoonpersonI did not make this a poll because the right answer is indisputably B.August 29, 2022
Of course, there were also people who took the moment a bit more seriously. Johnny Depp has just come out of a long legal battle with his ex-wife Amber Heard where accusations of defamation and abuse were flung at both sides. While Depp largely prevailed in the case, that has not cleared him of wrongdoing in the eyes of many, who felt Depp’s appearance was in bad taste, or at least would have been if it hadn’t been so silly.
i can’t stop laughing, this is what his fans called “johnny depp’s big comeback” pic.twitter.com/6ttPkd5PjkAugust 29, 2022
Meanwhile, on the other side, there has always been a vocal contingent of fans who felt the accusations against Depp were untrue, and were glad to see him appear on the VMAs. Several of Depp’s jokes from “inside“ the spacesuit took aim at the recent publicity around him, including a jab that the only reason he was doing this was because he didn’t have many other options, though Depp has actually found plenty of work.
“you know what, i needed the work”— johnny depp at the vmas pic.twitter.com/75vAIvK5gDAugust 29, 2022
Needless to say Johnny Depp will continue to be a controversial figure. With the recent Depp/Heard verdict now under appeal, that’s probably not going to change anytime soon.
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CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis. Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.