The seemingly never-ending saga of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s domestic abuse case took a rather surprising turn the other week when a leaked audio tape recorded several years ago surfaced online and had the actress admitting to hitting the Pirates of the Caribbean star. And while it’s not like Depp is fully innocent in all this, this latest revelation has certainly led to the public’s opinion on Heard changing quite a bit, with tons of fans now turning against her.
In fact, many are calling for the actress to be removed from future projects that she’s attached to and one of the loudest cries from her critics is for Warner Bros. to fire her from the upcoming Aquaman 2. Indeed, there’ve been whispers for a while now that the studio is seriously considering it and today, an online petition calling for Heard’s dismissal has hit its goal.
You may’ve caught wind of this one as it’s been picking up a ton of steam lately, but the Change.org petition reached a staggering 300,000 signatures this week and has now set a new goal of 500,000. Which, in all likelihood, it’ll hit.
The plea has a fairly clear message, too, explaining that men can also be subject to domestic abuse, which is something that should be recognized by the entertainment industry.
“As Amber Heard is a known and proven domestic abuser, Warner Brothers and DC Entertainment should and must remove Heard from their Aquaman 2 film project,” reads the petition. “They must not ignore the suffering of Heard’s victims, and must not glamorize a domestic abuser.”
“Men are victims of domestic abuse, just like women. This must be recognized, and action must be taken to prevent a known abuser from being celebrated within the entertainment industry. Do the right thing. Remove Amber Heard from Aquaman 2. “
Of course, just because this petition has now hits its goal, that doesn’t mean Warner Bros. is going to cut Heard from the sequel. They’re reportedly considering it, yes, but these 300,000 signatures obviously won’t do much to impact their decision.
They’re surely aware of the backlash that’s out there and know that a good number of people want her gone from the DCEU. But at the end of the day, they’re going to do what’s best for Aquaman 2 and the franchise as a whole, and given that Heard was, admittedly, great in the role of Mera, they may find it tough to let her go.