Johnny Depp warns that ’no one is safe’ against cancel culture

Johnny Depp has warned “no one is safe” from cancel culture.

The 58-year-old actor – who agreed to step down from his role in the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ franchise last year after losing his libel case against The Sun newspaper, who had branded him a “wife beater” – thinks the “instant rush to judgement” online has grown “out of hand” and it’s all too easy for people to lose everything as the result of causing offence in some way.

Speaking to reporters at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain, he said: “It can be seen as an event in history that lasted for however long it lasted, this cancel culture, this instant rush to judgment 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.”

The ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ star urged people to speak out against injustice, whether they are directly affected or if it impacts on others.

Seemingly referencing his libel case, he said: “It doesn’t matter if a judgment, per se, has taken some artistic license. When there’s an injustice, whether it’s against you or someone you love, or someone you believe in—stand up, don’t sit down. ‘Cause they need you.”

Johnny’s ex-wife, Amber Heard, previously accused him of domestic abuse following the end of their marriage in 2016.

In August, a judge in Virginia granted the ‘Black Mass’ actor the right to pursue his defamation case against the 35-year-old actress over an op-ed piece she wrote for the Washington Post newspaper in 2018 about surviving domestic abuse.