There’s no denying that Johnny Depp has fallen on hard times, but comparing him to the disgraced Harvey Weinstein feels like kicking a man when he’s already down. The 57 year-old actor may have been dropped from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, come out on the losing end of his libel trial against a British tabloid that ran a headline calling him a wife beater and was then forced to resign as Fantastic Beasts 3‘s Grindelwald, but putting him in the same boat as Weinstein is still a little harsh.
The Miramax founder and blacklisted Hollywood mogul is currently serving 23 years in prison after being charged with two felonies when over 80 women came forward with allegations of sexual and emotional abuse spanning decades, and even before then, he’d built up a reputation as an intimidating bully who wasn’t above using underhanded tactics to get ahead.
On paper, the two couldn’t be more different, but former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani made the comparison in a recent interview, declaring that the prognosis for Depp’s career isn’t looking good right now and saying the following about it:
“I predict his career may never recover. Disney has lost interest in Depp for its Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, and I can’t imagine any other major studio wanting to work with him. He’s going to be the next Harvey Weinstein.”
Johnny Depp may have lost his most recent court case, but he’s still got plenty more legal battles on the horizon opposite ex-wife Amber Heard, and history has shown that nobody’s career is ever truly over in a place like Hollywood where there’s always a new scandal lurking just around the corner. That being said, it does seem unlikely at this point that the three-time Academy Award nominee will be able to come anywhere close to recapturing his lofty status at the top end of the A-list. But then again, stranger things have certainly happened in this business, so who knows what the future holds?