Actor Johnny Depp reportedly told a “joke” about the assassination of U.S. President Donald Trump while in Somerset, England, today.
Depp’s remarks come only a week removed from the shooting of U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise in Alexandria, Virginia, an incident that could have resulted in a mass casualty situation of GOP lawmakers and staffers if two brave Capitol Hill police officers weren’t with Scalise at the baseball field at the time to neutralize the attacker.
[See Update below]
Perhaps what’s even in more bad taste, the hipsters in the audience cheered what the Pirates of the Caribbean star had to say, according to British media reports.
Depp, 54, is attending the Glastonbury Festival in the U.K. where he held a Q&A along with the screening of his 2004 movie, The Libertine, at the new Cineramageddon drive-in theater there.
When someone in the audience apparently asked him about Trump, Johnny Depp reportedly had this to say , according to the Guardian and the Telegraph .
“I think he needs help and there are a lot of wonderful dark, dark places he could go. It is just a question — I’m not insinuating anything. By the way, this is going to be in the press. It will be horrible. I like that you are all a part of it. When was the last time an actor assassinated a president? I want to qualify, I am not an actor. I lie for a living. However, it has been a while, and maybe it is time.”
Depp was apparently alluding to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln by actor John Wilkes Booth in 1865.
During his long career in the pre-politics media spotlight, Donald Trump — a former Democrat and independent who ran for president on the GOP ticket — regularly mixed with the New York and Hollywood celebrities, and they with him. It’s only after he became a political candidate that Trump, for various reasons, became unacceptable to many of those on the show business circuit.
There seems to an excess of violent rhetoric or imagery emerging from the entertainment industry when it comes to President Trump. For example, the Shakespeare in the Park production of Julius Caesar, which just ended its run Sunday night in New York City, featured a Donald Trump look-alike — rather than the traditional Caesar in Roman robes — getting stabbed to death in the Roman senate. Last month, comedienne Kathy Griffin posed with a fake, decapitated head of President Trump in a photo shoot, resulting in her career imploding after the outcry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4FuifH4_t0
During the campaign, Robert De Niro said he wanted to punch Trump in the face. After the election, Madonna said at the Women’s March that she thought about blowing up the White House. In March, a Snoop Dogg music video featured the rapper shooting a clown dressed up as President Trump.
“Such is the state of liberalism in 2017,” the Gateway Pundit claimed .
Johnny Depp’s film, The Libertine, is about a 17th century poet and drunkard, John Wilmot, aka the second Earl of Rochester.
Johnny Depp is correct that his commentary about Trump was reported by the media, and it does sound horrible, regardless of your opinion of the president either way.
This is a developing story. Watch this space for updates about Johnny Depp and a threat or not against President Trump.
Update: Johnny Depp has apologized , People reported.
“I apologize for the bad joke I attempted last night in poor taste about President Trump. It did not come out as intended, and I intended no malice. I was only trying to amuse, not to harm anyone.”
Prior to the Depp apology, the White House issued a statement.
“President Trump has condemned violence in all forms and it’s sad that others like Johnny Depp have not followed his lead. I hope that some of Mr. Depp’s colleagues will speak out against this type of rhetoric as strongly as they would if his comments were directed to a Democrat elected official.”
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