Trigger warning: This article contains themes of domestic abuse that some readers may find distressing
Amber Heard’s sister Whitney Henriquez has slammed MTV for platforming Johnny Depp during the 2022 Video Music Awards. Depp appeared as the awards show’s mascot “Moon Person” just 2 months after the verdict in the Virginia defamation trial. The 59-year-old actor’s face was digitally superimposed on the helmet of the floating moon person in a pre-recorded clip. Whitney, 34, lashed out at MTV, as she shared an Instagram story with the message “I stand with Amber Heard” and called it a “DVMA,” an apparent reference to domestic violence. “MTV, you’re disgusting and clearly desperate! I really hope that none of the people that made this call have daughters…,” she wrote, making her stand evident, reported PEOPLE.
VENICE, ITALY – SEPTEMBER 05: Johnny Depp and actress Amber Heard attend a premiere for ‘The Danish Girl’ during the 72nd Venice Film Festival at on September 5, 2015 in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Christine Pettinger/Getty Images)
Johnny Depp and MTV’s official page posted a clip of his appearance in the VMAs in a joint Instagram post. The post showed Depp’s head in a floating “moon person,” VMA’s mascot. The mascot was seen floating above the stage and the actor joked that he “needed the work.” He later joked about taking up multiple jobs. “I just want you guys to know I’m available for birthdays, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, weddings, wakes … any old thing you need, you name it,” he said, before adding, “Oh, I’m also a dentist.” MTV shared the clip with the caption: “Guess who?” Depp’s former lawyer Adam Waldman commented on the post with a celebratory raising-hands emoji. This was Depp’s most high-profile public appearance since the trial.
LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 28: Amber Heard departs with her sister Whitney Heard (second right), the Royal Courts of Justice, the Strand on July 28, 2020 in London, England. The Hollywood actor is suing News Group Newspapers (NGN) and the Sun’s executive editor, Dan Wootton, over an article published in 2018 that referred to him as a “wife beater” during his marriage to actor Amber Heard. (Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images)
Whitney hit out at VMAs for providing a platform to the alleged abuser. “I still stand with you, sissy,” wrote Whitney. “Yesterday, today, and tomorrow I will always be proud of you for standing up for yourself, for testifying both here in Virginia and in the UK, and for being the voice of so many who can’t speak to the things that happen behind closed doors. We knew that this was going to be an uphill battle and that the cards were stacked against us. But you stood up and spoke out regardless. I am so honored to testify for you, and I would do it a million times over because I know what I saw and because the truth is forever on your side. I’m so sorry that it wasn’t reflected in the decision made by this jury, but I will never give up on you, and neither will anyone who stands with you. Forever by your side… #istandwithamberheard,” she concluded.
Depp had sued Amber Heard after she wrote a 2018 op-ed about domestic violence and abuse. Despite not taking his name in the article, he was awarded more than $10 million in damages by a jury in Fairfax County, Virginia on June 1. Heard has announced that she’s appealing the verdict. The Fairfax County verdict comes more than a year after a UK newspaper called him a “wife beater.” He lost a libel case as the London judge upheld the newspaper’s claims to be “substantially true.”
Amber Heard’s sister Whitney slams MTV for having Johnny Depp appear at the #VMAs as the moonman:
Amber Heard’s sister Whitney slams MTV for having Johnny Depp appear at the #VMAs as the moonman:
“You’re disgusting and clearly desperate!” pic.twitter.com/rcsvnndc09
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) August 29, 2022
Many Twitter users were angry that Johnny Depp was being eased back into the public eye despite the allegations of domestic abuse. British music journalist Eve Barlow is one of them. Barlow, who has professed her support for Heard, pointed out how the entertainment industry is rigged against women. “It sucks that a man gets to continue the circus of his sham of a reality publicly for better or worse while a woman has to shield from public life, she tweeted in response to the VMA videos. “I wish @MTV could see the state of my inbox this morning and the terror and heartbreak of women who live in fear for their own lives. You absolute idiots. Good people don’t work with abusers. People motivated by money and money alone work with abusers because they only know how to take advantage of an immoral system,” she wrote.
Johnny Depp is already back acting in movies and is set to star as King Louis XV in a period drama “Jeanne du Barry.” He is also set to release an album with Jeff Beck.
If you are being subjected to domestic abuse or know of anyone else who is, please visit The National Domestic Violence Hotline website, call 1-800-799-7233, or text LOVEIS to 22522.