It would be an understatement to say that Johnny Depp has fallen out of favor with Hollywood; just a few years ago he was the highest-paid star in the business making tens of millions of dollars per movie, but now he’s freely admitting that he’s been blackballed by the industry he’s served for almost 40 years.
Having been dropped from Pirates of the Caribbean and then forced to resign from Fantastic Beasts, the only upcoming project on Depp’s schedule sees him voicing an animated puffin based on himself as part of an educational series aimed at children. His bitter court battles opposite ex-wife Amber Heard have been the cause of his exile, but she remains gainfully employed as the female lead of a multi-billion dollar comic book franchise, and his fans aren’t happy about it.
Depp is currently in attendance at the San Sebastian Film Festival, where he’s the recipient of the honorary Donostia Award. Taking to the stage, the 58 year-old named himself as a victim of cancel culture and said nobody is safe, as per Deadline.
“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. It’s so far out of hand now that 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. Children have suffered from various types of unpleasantries. Sadly at a certain point they begin to think that it’s normal. Or that it’s them. When it’s not.”
While his supporters have backed him to the hilt throughout his well-publicized trials and tribulations, the film and television industry hasn’t been quite so forgiving. Cancel culture has spiraled out of control in some respects, and as Johnny Depp says, you never know who’s going to be next.