Johnny Depp left Australia & could face up to 10 prison years for Terriergate

Johnny Depp

A month ago, Pirates 5 producer Jerry Bruckheimer posted this photo to his Twitter page as a joke. His caption, “Captain Jack is back and we’re not letting him go,” referred to how Johnny Depp finally returned to Australia. This momentous event arrived after a 2-month hiatus (during which Depp legitimately injured his hand and then sketchily disappeared).

Johnny Depp has left Australia again. He was rumored to have left a week ago in a huff after smuggling his two dogs into the country with Amber Heard by his side. Producers convinced Johnny to continue filming while Amber’s parents took Pistol and Boo back to LA. Johnny followed suit yesterday and climbed onto a private jet. The Mail has photos of Johnny arriving at the airport. Officially, he’s heading stateside for daughter Lily Rose’s 16th birthday. Let’s hope he returns to Australia and doesn’t leave cast and crew dangling again.

Also on Monday, an Australian Senate committee met over Terriergate. The Aussie government is taking this matter very seriously because of the country’s fragile environment. The Sydney Morning Herald says Johnny could face up to 10 years in prison or a gigantic fine for neglecting to follow proper quarantine procedures:

Government officials have confirmed Hollywood superstar Johnny Depp could face up to 10 years in prison or a maximum fine of $340,000 for illegally bringing his two dogs into Australia.

His pilot could face up to two years in prison for his role in the undeclared importing of Pistol and Boo.

These were some of the details revealed as a Senate committee hearing in Canberra turned its attention to the high-profile quarantine case.

Earlier this month, Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce threatened to have Depp’s two Yorkshire terriers put down after they were illegally brought into the country.

“The dog thing – we’ll get that out of the way quickly,” was the ambitious goal growled by a member of the Senate rural and regional affairs and transport committee on Monday afternoon.

Agriculture Department officials presented themselves at Parliament House to answer questions from the committee – all of its members keen to find out who let the dogs in.

“It is very serious,” politicians and public servants agreed. “A complete balls up,” muttered another committee member.

An ongoing investigation by the department understands that Depp, his fellow passengers and the flight crew all failed to declare the presence of the dogs. Customs officers did not find the terriers when they boarded the aircraft before the passengers disembarked.

[From Sydney Morning Herald]

Well, Australia doesn’t mess around with quarantine requirements. Johnny and Amber obviously thought they were above the law. Johnny hasn’t publicly commented on the matter, but he must have been steaming mad. This has turned into a huge case that’s swallowed up public resources. Let’s get real though. Johnny won’t go to prison. He’ll end up paying the huge fine, or the Pirates production will pay it for him.

FYI, here’s the newest Black Mass trailer. Johnny’s still doing a Goodfellas impression while talking to young children and charming old ladies.

Johnny Depp

Amber Heard

Photos courtesy of Jerry Bruckheimer on Twitter, Fame/Flynet & WENN

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36 Responses to “Johnny Depp left Australia & could face up to 10 prison years for Terriergate”

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  1. Shambles says:

    *clutches a poster of Cry Baby Walker and weeps violently for the utter mess this man has become*

    • TX Laney says:

      I’m right there with you except with a poster from Chocolat

      • Shambles says:

        We can all just gather our various posters and have a good cry-fest, mmkay? Acceptable film memorablia includes Cry-Baby, Chocolat, Edward Scissorhands, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Sleepy Hollow, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas… Feel free to jump in with any I’m leaving out here.

      • swack says:

        Alice in Wonderland, any of the Pirate movies, Blow. Think those are the only ones I know.

      • Shambles says:

        @Swack, Damn. I can’t believe I missed Blow.

      • doofus says:

        you forgot his masterpiece…

        …the ORIGINAL “Nightmare on Elm Street”.

      • Splinter says:

        And no Don Juan DeMarco?

    • Laura says:

      Benny & Joon. *sniffle*

  2. PoppyAdair says:

    Good. His entitled ass should go to prison AND pay a huge fine. Australia has one of the most magical ecosystems in the world. Anyone who intentionally and knowingly jeopardizes it should suffer.

  3. Babadook says:

    Johnny will be fine, wonder what’ll happen to the pilot though?

    • Tulip says:

      Ooh, good question.

      All that aside, glad he’s going back for his daughter’s sweet sixteen. It’s good that he’s there for stuff like that.

    • laura in LA says:

      Johnny will be fine because he’ll probably just have to pay the fine, but it wouldn’t be fair if the pilot served time.

      By the way, cool name, Babadook, now in my Netflix queue.

  4. Jem says:

    Johnny don’t drop any scarves in prison dude

  5. Amy says:

    Smh, what an immature and useless douche he’s become.

    This wasn’t him trying to use his celebrity to sweet-talk someone into letting his dogs stay (which would have been wrong too) he actively hid those dogs in two ways to make sure they wouldn’t be searched or properly examined before entering the country.

    I’m so sick of him.

    He put his dogs lives at risk. He put the cast and crew of the movie in a bind. He made the politicians the bad guys for trying to do the right thing for once. And now he’s stormed off in a huff with his tea cup dogs.

    I don’t think I’ll ever watch another movie of his. I don’t want to support this ego-filled brat.

    • anne_000 says:

      Yes, his immature, selfish actions may possibly get a lot of people fired, imprisoned, and/or fined. He wants what he wants and doesn’t care about the consequences for other people, animals, and environment.

    • Minnie1 says:

      They are actually both Amber’s dogs, not his. If you look at past photos of her, she seems to always have them with her when she travels. He married into them, so to speak. Amber is at least half responsible for this mess, although most tend to blame Depp solely for the situation.

      • anne_000 says:

        I’m thinking the plane was hired by him and not Amber, so the pilot and crew were hired by him. It was him who invited his passengers onto the plane, so he was responsible for what was on that plane, whether it be drugs, weapons, or animals. He knew the dogs were on the plane and knew that the custom officers searching the plane would want to know about the dogs. But he and his passengers and his hired crew hid the dogs and never declared them, effectively smuggling them into the country.

        Whether or not they were Amber’s dogs, and while she does hold responsibility for what happened with them with Australian customs, he allowed them to board his flight in the first place.

  6. minx says:

    Terriergate-lol

  7. OhDear says:

    He’s really been a hot mess lately – though has he always been this way and we’re just realizing it now?

    I doubt he’ll get 10 years, though.

    • a cut above says:

      I think he’s always been a hot mess. But the pretty face and focus on family life with Vanessa Paradis kept it under wraps for a long, long time. Now that it’s all gone, this is what’s left.

    • Betti says:

      Yes he has been a mess for years but his behaviour is getting worse and so is the drinking. He always was a bit of a wild party boy but it was covered up. But the party lifestyle is catching up with him – his looks are going.

      Shame as he is talented. I can’t wait for Black Mass, not so much any more Pirate movies.

    • BangersandMash says:

      Oh Dear, he has been this way for a loong azzz minute!!!

      Secondly, a cut above. You are right, but the thing with Vanessa was that she didn’t play around with his tantrums, she didn’t entertain his ‘diva’… She gave it too him in the fabulously bitchy french sharpness that only Vanessa could provide.

      Vanessa was know for calling him out on his sh** for YEARS!! That’s how they worked. That’s how he had it together, and then, about a year before the divorce, all the sudden, she’s an evil devil woman from France, who cuts men’s balls off along with their freedom of choice and liberty blah, blah, blah.
      The standard, “She was demanding and controlling” narrative.

      But cut too 2015, we realize just how much that french goddess had to put up with, and just how much he actually NEEDED to be ‘put on the gears’….
      I mean, if I were Amber…. All I would muster up would be something like this:

      “Oh my gaahhhhhhh” *sip of wine* …. *flick hair and look at my 50 year old husband throwing a tantrum*, “I want out sooooo bad, please gaaaaaaahhhh” *sip of wine*, *eye roll*

  8. Jayna says:

    Fine him and move on.

    And people used to adore him. LOL

  9. Dhavynia says:

    I saw this on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and it was hysterical. It seems like the guy in charge of this is kinda making an ass out of himself. Still doesn’t excuse JD behavior though

    • dr mantis toboggan says:

      Barnaby Joyce has been making an ass of himself long before Johnny depp and his purse dogs came along

  10. TheOriginalTiffany says:

    He went to our Cirque show last week. We’ve recently left the tour, but got all the pictures from our tour family. The dude looks awful IRL. Bloated, greasy, just a mess. Oh, Johnny. 🙀

  11. Lady D says:

    I had a ferret for a pet for several years. She was trained to stay in my pocket. I traveled across the border into the States probably 2 dozen times with her, then one day a friend mentioned quarantine so I investigated. Turns out if caught she would have had to stay in quarantine in the US for 6 weeks, then Canada for 6 weeks. I had no idea. No more trips for my girl.

  12. Div says:

    If Johnny was a woman, his career would be over. Hollywood is forgiving of a lot of things, but not showing up to set is one of the worst things possible….and not showing up for an extended period of time for a blockbuster is an epic fail. It apparently can cost them up hundreds of thousands of dollars a day if they are thrown off schedule. Showing up drunk as a skunk would have been better than not showing up at all.

    • Betti says:

      Not showing up on set was one of the reason Lohan can’t get a job or couldn’t for a long time – she had a rep for showing up late high and drunk. She was forgiven a lot but when she started costing studios shed loads of money – it was game over.

      He used to have a good rep as a professional.

    • Heather says:

      I remember Robert Downey Jr saying something to the effect of hollywood producers didn’t really care that he was whacked out on drugs because he always showed up to work, knew his lines and got the job done. That was all they cared about.

  13. mmm says:

    If I were him, i wouldn’t return to Australia. The Gov is using him as free publicity and if the Agriculture Minister want to have his “15 minutes of fame” from him then the Culture Minister should stop him now, because this will cause a huge damage to the movie industry in Australia (the Village Roadshow Studios!) and there’s no way that they would want to go back with any other Pirate sequel there, that’s for sure
    Well, Indeed Lily’s birthday is tomorrow. so it was expected he would go back to the States for her birthday.
    He looks good in the pictures and Amber too.
    The Black Mass trailer is awesome. Great trailers so far

    • Sarah says:

      Lol what? This isn’t about fame or about movies. It’s about the law.

      Depp lied to customs. That is a criminal offence.

      If movie stars or execs think they should be able to do what they want, we do not want them or their business in Australia. Our ecosystem is far more important than some pathetic 10th movie in a terrible franchise or some sad old drunk actor who was good once upon a time.

    • CharlotteCharlotte says:

      This entire comment is ridiculous. I hope it is satire.

  14. laura in LA says:

    Maybe it’s because I’m from Boston and picky about it, but I’ve no interest in seeing Black Mass – and that trailer definitely didn’t help.

  15. Flower says:

    Inside info on Johnny and the hand injury……. he burnt the hand badly while smoking crack and was jetted off back to the US by private plane to avoid it being made public. The insurance company would have pulled the plug on the who movie if they had concrete proof, as it is they now have someone on set 24/7 keeping an eye on Johnny.