Divorced stars Amber Heard and Johnny Depp are currently locked in a defamation lawsuit that was initially tied to his movie career and may now affect hers. Petitions titled "Remove Amber Heard from Aquaman 2" and "We want JOHNNY DEPP back as CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW" are skyrocketing in the wake of an audio conversation reportedly leaked from his team.
Johnny Depp filed a $50 million suit against Amber Heard, alleging her op-ed about domestic abuse defamed Depp -- who was not named in the piece -- and cost him the role of Captain Jack Sparrow in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
Johnny Depp's supporters have been trying to get Amber Heard fired as Mera from Aquaman 2, launching a petition had just over 30,000 signatures back in November 2019.
A couple of weeks ago, audio was leaked appearing to show Amber Heard admit she hit Johnny Depp after a fight. After that, the Aquaman 2 Change.org petition has skyrocketed to over 311,000.
In an entirely different lawsuit, it was alleged that Johnny Depp tried to get Amber Heard fired from Warner Bros.'s Aquaman. Whatever happened there, Heard did play Mera in Aquaman, continuing the role she started in Justice League. As far as we know, she is continuing in Aquaman 2, which is meant to start filming in early 2021.
Amber Heard is also part of the cast of The Stand adaptation for CBS All Access. And she's reportedly "happier than ever" in her new relationship with cinematographer Bianca Butti. That's the word from an unnamed source to Us Weekly:
Amber is fine and happier than ever. Bianca has been very supportive of her, and Amber feels like she can trust her and be comfortable around her, especially since they were friends first.
As for Johnny Depp? He seems to be continuing his role as Gellert Grindelwald in Warner Bros.'s Fantastic Beasts 3, despite early backlash to his casting. His film Minamata is also meant to have its world premiere in Berlin later this month.
Fans have also been petitioning for Johnny Depp to return as Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, with multiple petitions to Disney asking for his return. "We want JOHNNY DEPP back as CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW" currently has more than 133,000 signatures -- a huge leap from under 5,000 in June 2019.
Will these petitions make a difference? After all, Game of Thrones viewers launched that viral petition to over 1 million signatures and, no, HBO did not re-write the final season.
Disney never openly fired Johnny Depp in his role as Captain Jack Sparrow, unlike, say, James Gunn being fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after past tweets. Disney reinstated Gunn after several months of fan outcry, but any Pirates decision may also be based in economics. Depp is an expensive star and the most recent film wasn't as well received as the studio hoped. They may save money by going with a reboot, although that would be a gamble too.
What do you think of these petitions? Have you signed the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard ones mentioned above, or any others?
