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Johnny Depp Says Cancel Culture Is ‘So Far Out Of Hand’ And Warns ‘No One Is Safe’

Johnny Depp Says Cancel Culture Is ‘So Far Out Of Hand’ And Warns ‘No One Is Safe’

The Hollywood star made the comments at the San Sebastian Film Festival

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Johnny Deep has issued an ominous warning to celebrities and regular folk about the trappings of cancel culture.

The Hollywood star is in Spain for this year's San Sebastian Film Festival, where he's received a lifetime achievement award for his movie career.

While it should be a happy time for the 58-year-old, he's reflected on the concept of cancel culture.

"It can be seen as an event in history that lasted for however long it lasted, this cancel culture, this instant rush to judgement based on what essentially amounts to polluted air," he said, according to Deadline.

Depp has certainly seen this issue firsthand after being dumped from the likes of Pirates of the Caribbean and Fantastic Beasts 3 because of his high-profile court defamation court case.

Isabel Infantes/Alamy Live News

The case centred on whether an article published in The Sun, in which Depp was called a 'wife beater', was libellous.

Depp argued the case had been aggravated by his name being included alongside that of convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein, as well as the fact The Sun retained the article on its website.

The truth of the matter was decided on the balance of probabilities, a lower standard than required in a criminal case.

The legal battle, which focuses on a piece written by The Sun in which the newspaper claimed the actor had assaulted his then-wife Amber Heard, has been described as the biggest English libel trial of the 21st century.

Depp has since been able to sue Heard for a separate case in the US, where he alleged an article in The Washington Post cost him the Pirates of the Caribbean role.

Brett Cove / SOPA Images/Sipa USA

So it's no surprise that he's not the biggest fan of the pile on culture that has emerged in the past few years.

He said during the San Sebastian Film Festival press conference: "I can promise you that no one is safe. Not one of you. No one out that door. No one is safe.

"It takes one sentence and there's no more ground, the carpet has been pulled. It's not just me that this has happened to, it's happened to a lot of people.

"This type of thing has happened to women, men. Sadly at a certain point they begin to think that it's normal. Or that it's them. When it's not."

When asked whether he thought it was appropriate for him to receive the honorary Donostia Award, he replied: "I haven't done anything, I just make movies."

Alamy

He also had a pretty grim view of how the movie industry has evolved with emerging technology and larger audience demands.

Depp told the crowd of journalists: "Hollywood is certainly not what it was. The studio system, the grudge matches, the pandemonium and chaos of cinematic releases to streaming.

"It is a case of, 'no matter what, I'm going to get mine'. That's where these people are coming from."

He added: "They realize they're just a disposable as I am. Some more so. Large, large corporations take control of these things.

"As someone who takes part in the creation of cinema, how much more formula do we need from the likes of studios? How much more condescension do we need as audiences? I think that Hollywood has grotesquely underestimated the audience."

Featured Image Credit: Isabel Infantes/Alamy Live News

Topics: johnny depp, Entertainment, Celebrity