Following Johnny Depp losing his libel suit against The Sun, which ruled that the media outlet’s headline was “substantially true” when it called him a “wife beater,” the actor was immediately forced to resign from Fantastic Beasts 3. This chain of events caused his notoriously aggressive online fans to launch an effort to get Amber Heard fired from Aquaman 2 in retaliation. Despite the social media pile-on, in November 2020, Heard made it clear that the “paid campaigns” didn’t work “because they have no basis in reality,” and that she was set to film the Aquaman sequel.
Unfortunately, Heard’s confirmation that she was still in the Aquaman 2 cast didn’t stop the online campaign, and persistent rumors continued that she was set to be replact. Of course, those rumors proved to be baseless speculation as Clarke joined the cast of Marvel’s Secret Invasion, and Heard has since been spotted on the set of the Aquaman sequel, which is currently filming.
Now, Aquaman producer Peter Safran has cemented Heard’s job security even further by making it clear that the campaigns launched by Johnny Depp fans was never going to affect her role as Mera. Via Deadline:
“I don’t think we’re ever going to react to, honestly, pure fan pressure,” said Safran whose James Gunn The Suicide Squad movie hits theaters and HBO Max on Aug. 6.
“You gotta do what’s best for the movie,” continued Safran, “We felt that if it’s James Wan, and Jason Momoa, it should be Amber Heard. That’s really what it was.”
“One is not unaware of what is going on in the Twitter-verse, but that doesn’t mean you have to react to it or take it as gospel or accede to their wishes,” said Safran.
The next time you see #JusticeForJohnnyDepp trending, as it so randomly does, just know that Heard was correct the first time when she said it has no basis in reality.
(Via Deadline)