A couple of years ago, when Johnny Depp‘s reputation was hanging by a thread, there were a few people who stood by him, and one of them was J.K. Rowling, who supported the casting of the actor as Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts franchise.
The author behind Harry Potter received a lot of heat for supporting Depp despite allegations of physical abuse from his former wife Amber Heard. But now, in the light of new evidence as part of the actor’s defamation lawsuit against the Aquaman star which has exposed her for emotionally and physically abusing him, the tables are turning and many people have rallied to support the Pirates of the Caribbean star and ask for justice.
Even when the accusations piled up, resulting in Depp losing his role in the Pirates franchise, Rowling continued to defend the actor by maintaining that she was “genuinely happy” about casting him in the new spinoff fantasy series. As such, many of her fans vocally criticized this stance, but now those same fans are praising the writer for doing the right thing.
Here’s just a selection of what people had to say about this on Twitter:
@jk_rowling is an intelligent woman. She has the best interests of women at heart. Do you really think she would be okay with #JohnnyDepp being cast in the role of Grindlewald, if the abuse allegations Heard made about him were true? Nope. JK has too much integrity for that pic.twitter.com/ETHdQNZL88
— JacintaMary (@JacintaMary_Art) March 1, 2020
Remember the abuse JK Rowling got for casting Johnny Depp in Fantastic Beasts because he was a 'woman beater' and he turned out to be the victim of domestic abuse. Wonder if they apologised to both parties? 🤔
— Ashleigh (@ashleighhh___) February 28, 2020
Thank you @J.K. Rowling, for believing in #JohnnyDepp when #Disney didn’t! Fans like me, saw thru ah, before Johnny Depp even married her. Such mean eyes! We spotted the sociopath in her when she looked at him. Her eyes looked in love, then flashed rage, ‘can I stop the charade?’
— Lois Harach (@grammalois_56) March 3, 2020
https://twitter.com/isupportdepp/status/1233473065180389377
Disney should have done their homework like JK Rowling did! Now they want to get out of paying him as the lead! In spite of him making them 4.5 BILL as of March 2019. It wouldn't have been a franchise with video games & endless spin off's without him.♥️ https://t.co/a31WB0zzJs
— Julie (@JulieLeigh419) March 2, 2020
It would appear that even Disney wants to recast Depp in the Pirates saga, too. Who knows? Maybe the petition to bring him back, which soars higher every day, has managed to get their attention at last. Meanwhile, other appeals against Amber Heard are gaining momentum as well, including the one that’s asking WB to replace her in Aquaman 2 and another which looks to remove her as a spokesperson for L’Oréal due to her hypocritical behavior as a domestic violence ambassador.
At any rate, while people like J.K. Rowling do deserve an apology for getting under fire in this messy couple feud, executives and journalists in the media first need to make it up to Johnny Depp himself, whose reputation got tarnished because his court battle coincided with the #MeToo movement in Hollywood.
