As I’ve admitted before, I was never a Potterhead, and I really don’t understand most of the gossip/controversies around the Harry Potter series and now the Fantastic Beasts series. I do know that JK Rowling’s explanations for Nagini being cast as a Korean actress seemed… bad. And I also know that JK was doing the most to justify why she hand-picked Johnny Depp for the role of Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts films, despite the fact that Depp was accused of physically abusing Amber Heard. We already knew that JK was ride-or-die for Depp for some reason, and he recently confirmed that JK was the one to approach him, out of the blue, for the role. It wasn’t something he sought out – she was actively trying to get Depp in this role. So does she just not want to admit she made a mistake? Would it have been too expensive to recast? Or is it something else? Does JK Rowling truly believe that Depp was NOT abusive to Amber Heard, and that he’s, like, stone-cold sober and clean? Depp spoke to Entertainment Weekly to promote Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, and he spoke glowingly about how JK “knows the truth,” which is that he was “falsely accused.”
Entertainment Weekly: Another controversy surrounded your participation in the film. The director, studio, and Rowling issued statements of support. What was that like for you, and is there anything you’d say to fans on the fence about seeing the film?
Depp: I’ll be honest with you, I felt bad for J.K. having to field all these various feelings from people out there. I felt bad that she had to take that. But ultimately, there is real controversy. The fact remains I was falsely accused, which is why I’m suing the Sun newspaper for defamation for repeating false accusations. J.K. has seen the evidence and therefore knows I was falsely accused, and that’s why she has publicly supported me. She doesn’t take things lightly. She would not stand up if she didn’t know the truth. So that’s really it.[EW Note: Depp’s attorney has claimed “evidence” will be presented during court proceedings in The Sun defamation case next month. When reached by EW, Heard’s attorney replied, “As the parties agreed in their divorce to resolve future disputes in confidential arbitration, that is the appropriate forum to address Mr. Depp’s public denials that he abused Ms. Heard.”]
This entire time, Depp has had a secret stash of evidence that proves he never abused Amber, because of course he does. That’s why he never presented it in their divorce case, and that’s why he got all of his spineless bros to run to media outlets to call Amber a liar and a golddigger, and that’s why he very publicly waged a campaign to gaslight her and financially abuse her. Because he was always innocent and he had proof. Proof that JK Rowling has seen and believed. Yes. That’s the argument he’s going with. What is wrong with JK Rowling? This whole thing is going to blow up spectacularly in her face.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Why does he keep talking?
Dunno why he keeps talking, but I can’t get past how much he looks like Tilda Swinton in that pic. (If she were a substance abuser.)
OMG – imagine if they had cast Tilda in the role instead?!? THAT would have been glorious.
I can no longer with J.K. Rowling…and I gave up on Depp….YEAR’S AGO…and that was before it came out that he is an abusive drunk who needs to go sit down somewhere and get some DEEP psychotherapy treatment…
It was when I saw he was taking ALL THAT WONDERFUL acting talent and sold it…REALLY CHEAP…and for what? At the end of the day he’s still broke AF…and I saw THAT happening even back then with the way he was spending….
Mental illness is no joke.
Mental illness is most certainly not a joke, but Johnny Depp is. He hasn’t been diagnosed with any mental illness that I know of. He’s an alcoholic but that seems to be his choice since he’s more than capable of accessing treatment.
Mental illness shouldn’t be blamed when famous people act stupid. Johnny Depp is an abusive asshole, and that’s not a diagnosis in the DSM. There’s already enough misinformation about mental illness out there without assigning it to random rich shitheads like JD.
To be fair, whether anything is diagnosed or not, this almost certainly is some form of mental illness. People who act in this way will likely have something going on. That isn’t in any way meaning I’m defending his behaviour or saying it’s ok. He needs to take a good look at himself and get help. People need to stop enabling him to cause so much hurt. I can only imagine how Amber Heard must be feeling having this still dragging on, still being called a liar and still having these mind games to contend with. I hope she has a good support network.
So much dodginess happened between Rowling and Depp, with the casting and the yacht sale and etc.
Long story short – she don’t give a flying f…antastic beast about domestic violence if it lines her pockets.
I didn’t know about the yacht shadiness. Thanks for the tip! The whole thing is a gross mess and I have to surround my happy childhood memories of Harry Potter in a bubble where JK Rowling’s continued tinkerings and horrible casting choices can’t get at them.
I sincerely hope that Depp is lying and no “proof” has convinced Rowling of anything. Regardless, I won’t be seeing the movie because it would be impossible to enjoy with Depp on the screen.
The really strange thing is that she escaped her first husband when he was violent and abusive to her. She’s given a huge (plural millions) amount of money to single mother charities as a result. Sadly I think she’s probably fallen foul of the tendency we all have to assume someone we know and like must be innocent.
Why he calls her JK I don’t know, either. That initial use was simply so boys would read the books – the feeling was that a woman author wouldn’t succeed. Her name is Joanne and friends always call her Jo in interviews.
Odd all ways round.
This is going to blow up in her face and it should. I used to like her but she’s become problematic over the past few years.
Will it though? Yeah, there’s some blowback and grumbling online, and yeah, we won’t go watch the movie, but I’m betting it will still make huge money.
Just wondering how everyone thinks this will blow up in her face when people seem to have proven that they don’t really care that much.
It will prove she’s a hypocrite -she’s someone who has supported domestic violence victims for many years as she is a survivor of DV herself. For her to public support someone where evidence was released showing he was violent to his ex-wife is, well hypocritical of her. And as for him, why present contradicting evidence now and not during his divorce proceedings – cause he needs the money as he’s broke due to his crazy lifestyle.
Look at Taylor Swift and how little it took for a certain segment to come back as a committed ally and all around good person.
Im not worried about JK facing any negative reactions. Not only because I canceled her but because she can always post a small “apology” and everyone will celebrate her for that.
I think hell will freeze over before J. K. Rowling apologises for anything. She genuinely does not get it.
oh well, just another movie I won’t watch because of Depp.
Yep. Haven’t seen it, didn’t miss it.
I went to see the did movie but I’m no supporting this one and my friends aren’t either.
I wish JK Rowling never had a Twitter so I couldn’t see his tantrums can’t see the Harry Potter saga the same way.
JK’s defense of Depp has really caused me to question her judgment. He’s canceled and if she doesn’t cut him lose immediately she’s canceled too.
I hope she’s feeling the burn of how easily men can turn around and drag your reputation through the muck to save their own skin.
I will not let this cancelled garbage person — or anything else, really — ruin my Fantabulous Royal Baby Day. That is all.
Ewwwwwwwwwwwww.
With that out of the way, holy s**t is Warner Brothers ever gross and doubling down on Depp as the face of this movie. (Or maybe it’s Rowling…ugh, he’s not the guy we were all hot for 20 years ago JK. Grow up). In any event he’s by far the face of this movie. A bit of Jude Law sure (and a token amount of the star of the last one…the guy who won an Oscar or something. Eugene? Edgar? Whatshisface as the studio seems to regard him?).
Even more now I would be happy to see this underperform and thrilled to see it fail. This is Depp’s movie.
They kept him in the first film despite it being a single scene they could have reshot with little fuss, and then they kept him for the second film despite the backlash. At this point trying to distance themselves would be pointless. They went all in and there’s no pretending otherwise.
I imagine they’re also thinking that this way the other stars won’t have to discuss it and possibly start a new scandal with their response. ‘Johnny Depp’s being human garbage again’ is a much smaller story than ‘Jude Law defends Depp’ or ‘Eddie Redmayne says Depp should have been fired’.
Oh do shut up, you fool.
Eep he looks like Tilda Swinton
It’s my understanding that the evidence he refers to came from their divorce case. IMO it doesn’t prove he didn’t abuse her, only that she abused him too. It you’re physically fighting with your partner, you’re in a toxic relationship and P. S. that it not love
Yep, he’s going to twist the fact that she fought back to mean he was falsely accused. That logic is only going to work on people who were ready to enable him anyway.
Ah, I see, she saw the “evidence”. She was there beside every day to witness the fact that you are never a controlling abuser. Ok, got it.
Also, if Amber hit him and fought with him does not negate the fact that the person with the power advantage and physical advantage is the one who is committing intimate terrorism, which is very different from getting a few punches in during an altercation.
Honest..at first glance I was wondering why there was a bad picture of Tilda Swinton attached to the story..
He talks like Trump.
Well to be honest he was planning on presenting his evidence in court but the settlement happened. There are court docs in which it is listed, from August 2016. What hit me the most is that according to his lawyer they have Amber’s admission of abuse among other things. Don’t even know what’s going on anymore.
The strange thing with JK is that she had lots of time to recast him before November 2016 (when the first movie was released and Depp’s role was revealed). No one would have known that he was even part of the initial movie if she’d recasted him between May- November 2016. I know JK has done problematic things but what on earth did she see that persuaded her to keep him?? Just think about it. Wizarding World brand doesn’t need huge stars since it’s succesful on its own so why did she see and decided to keep Depp that was worth all the backlash she got? Remember Rowling is also a domestic abuse survivor after all.
Just some food for though.
Johnny is so gross and considering some of her tweets with TERFS…well, I’m not surprised.
Looks both ways before I say something slightly critical about Harry Potter, as I know the stans can be a bit…zealous.
One of the big “romantic heroes” of the series was a man who was an ex-member of a magical neo-nazi/KKK type of group who only left the group because he was in love/former friends with a girl, a member of the oppressed class his group was dedicated to eradicating, was in danger. In the books (not the movies), he then disturbingly begs for only the girl, not her husband and child, to be protected after he endangers her family. He also bullies kids to the extreme…..and yet JK completely romanticizes Snape as the “bravest man” Harry ever knew and Cursed Child is basically a love letter to him. I understand what anti-heros are but the character’s serious flaws are completely brushed over.
So I am…not surprised that she has a weird, warped view on relationships to say the least. “Always” is not romantic. I absolutely love the books, but they do have some problematic aspects (especially the house elves) which I think are often ignored because the people pointing them out are often slightly over the top, thin skinned tumblr types.
I 100% agree with you on Snape. After I finished DH I’ll admit I looked at his character with rose-colored glasses and thought it was very sweet of Harry to name his child in his honor BUT a year after DH came out I re-read the series and he is horrible (Snape). I will never understand the internet love for Snape and hate the love for “Always.” You’re absolutely correct, it’s in no way romantic at all and speaks volumes about JK and her thoughts on relationships. Plus, he was a monster to the children he was supposed to be teaching, ffs Neville’s boggart (things that turns into your worst fear for those who aren’t familiar/don’t remember) turned INTO SNAPE. No child should be fearful of their teacher. I understand it’s a book and make believe, but she was intending for him to be an anti-hero all along, then she really should have toned down some of the shitty things he did to the students. imo.
Depp sucks. My heart sank so much at the end of the 1st FB when I saw him. I had throughly enjoyed the movie up until that point. His casting will forever tarnish my opinion of JK Rowling, but I still love the book series flaws and all.
I felt the same way – immediately upon reading that Snape had been working for Dumbledore the whole time I felt rather generously towards him, but on re-reading the series, there’s nothing that can excuse the cruelty he displayed to his students. He was selfish, cold, arrogant, and self-serving. It’s nice that he turned away from the worst of paths, but it doesn’t really change the fact that Snape was a d!ck. Also, “always” is sorta creepy stalkerish. Just saying’.
I will always love the books (even though they are flawed), but I can’t get behind anything Rowling’s done since Deathly Hallows (and I’ll include that horrific epilogue here, too. Albus! Severus! I ask you!?!?!)
Okay, if she sought him out, what went down for her to want to get rid of Farrell. I mean, dude has cleaned up his act ( and has never been a nuisance on sets) and has been killing it these past few years. Honestly, he was one of the best things about the first film.
I have been saying for the past year Farrell should have been brought back. This kind of drama really does suck for the other cast members. To have this avoidable cloud over them for promotions, ugh.
Just recast JD with Skeet Ulrich, no one would notice. Skeet aged better than JD.
I would cosign this a thousand times if I could.
This is why you don’t cosign trash. They always find a way to drag you down too. Abuse allegations aside, the way Depp looks should effectively keep him from getting cast as anything. He looks too terrible to even be menacing.
It’s funny because for a long time after the final Harry Potter book was released J. K. Rowling wanted to distance herself from that world and do other things. But I think she had gotten so used to the praise and validation that the Potter universe gave her that she couldn’t leave it alone. So now we have The Cursed Child (which seems to be more disliked than liked within the fandom) and Fantastic Beasts which narrative-wise seems to be treading very similar ground to the original series. Newt is Harry, Grindelwald is Voldemort, and Dumbledore is still Dumbledore. Remember the days when her Twitter account had only one tweet on it and it said that she was busy writing? I feel kind of nostalgic for that. These days she finds herself getting into a lot of twitter spats, which isn’t exactly unusual for celebrities on twitter but it happens so often that it almost feels like she seeks them out, and she does come across as quite thin-skinned. I don’t know. I’m disappointed in her. It’s like she’s so stubborn that she cannot even contemplate the possibility that she may have been wrong.
What a mess. Makes me so happy that I am so blessed and do not have drama in my life. Thank you, Lord.
As I said before Johnny had his ex girlfriends give sworn testimony that he wasn’t abusive toward them, he had his friends say that he wasn’t abusive towards Amber and it never happened. He had his bodyguards give testimony he never hit her and so on. He did everything in his power to prove that he wasn’t abusive towards Amber and she was lying and 2 years after it’s been made public. He’s going broke.
So the big question is why did he wait two years to provide this so-called evidence. Two years after he’s been sued left right and sideways by everyone. 2 years after another assault charge. And two years after his he’s been a drugged-up mess.
C’MON. How is it that Jo Rowling can be so woke* – some would say uber-woke on the hyperscale – and yet support someone for doing just what her own ex-husband did??? What kind of a message does that send to all the victims of DV she’s been supporting over the years??
*Yes. I am using “woke” tongue-in-cheek.
I think Depp will end up like Marlon Brando. Bloated, lazy and taking roles solely for money. He really should stop doing interviews. I guess he enjoys digging himself into a very large hole.
My sister used to be pretty good friends with amber and says a lot of guys she dated broke up with her because she was pretty controlling and has some anger issues. Wouldn’t surprise me me if she’s also an abuser. We see the pretty blonde girl, but sometimes forget that women can be abusers too. Why would she stay so long in a toxic relationship if she wasn’t getting something out of it too?