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The Internet Calls To Boycott Warner Bros. After Johnny Depp Animaniacs Joke

The saga of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard has taken many twists and turns over the last couple of years, but only in 2020 could a throwaway joke featuring an animated likeness of the former Pirates of the Caribbean star in an episode of the Animaniacs revival on Hulu cause an online firestorm that's both completely unexpected and yet totally unsurprising at the same time.

The saga of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard has taken many twists and turns over the last couple of years, but only in 2020 could a throwaway joke featuring an animated likeness of the former Pirates of the Caribbean star in an episode of the Animaniacs revival on Hulu cause an online firestorm that’s both completely unexpected and yet totally unsurprising at the same time.

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Since being dropped from Fantastic Beasts 3 after coming out on the losing end of his libel trial against a British tabloid that ran a headline calling him a wife beater, fans have rallied behind Depp. They’ve launched petitions in an attempt to have him reinstated as Jack Sparrow and Grindelwald despite both franchises moving forward on new installments without him, while the campaign to have Heard fired from Aquaman 2 sailed past a million signatures as supporters also plan to boycott the DCEU’s superhero sequel.

In true modern day internet fashion, a new petition has now been launched calling for the team behind Animaniacs to apologize for the aforementioned joke, which centers around a sight gag for a poster for fictional movie Johnny 2: Telling Lies. Fans were quick to jump on the bandwagon to blast both the show and the studio, even though it appears to be nothing more than a reference to the ‘Johny Johny Yes Papa’ meme that was a big viral hit in 2018, and you can check out some of the incredulous reactions below.

https://twitter.com/samkentfilm/status/1330883593690812419

Animaniacs

https://twitter.com/Nousheen_N/status/1330917456366370816

https://twitter.com/animanicast/status/1330757214672338945?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1330757214672338945%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmovieweb.com%2Fboycott-warner-bros-animaniacs-johnny-depp-reference%2F

The latest chapter in the never-ending story looks to be rooted in the fact that the Animaniacs scripts were written a couple of years ago when the meme was at its cultural peak, so if anything, the entire backlash is based on the revived series having outdated humor more than any malicious attempts to further undermine Johnny Depp’s credibility. But given that this is the internet we’re talking about, that fact hasn’t done much to calm his fans down.

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