Will Amber Heard be in Aquaman 2? Petition to remove her reaches 3 million signatures
We are now a month into the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard court drama. As you have most probably heard, Depp is suing former wife Amber Heard for defamation. Following the 2018 Washington Post op-ed, entitled: "I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change".
Two days before the start of the trial, Amber took to Instagram to tell fans, "I never named him". However, since its publication, the Pirates of the Caribbean star was asked to resign from his role in Fantastic Beasts 3. Both sides are making accusations of verbal and physical abuse, with both parties denying all accusations.
The trial is taking place in Virginia and is being live-streamed daily.
First, it was Amber’s facial expressions that led to a personality disorder diagnosis, then it was the makeup brand that debunked a key fact.
Now over three million people have signed a petition for her removal from Aquaman 2.
With the original goal of three million signatures, today the petition surpassed that, and is now aiming for four and half million signatures. Jeanne Larson created the change.org petition, explaining her reasoning on the site: "Amber Heard has been exposed as a domestic abuser by Johnny Depp".
She continued: "Men are victims of domestic abuse, just like women. This must be recognized, and action must be taken to prevent a known abuser from being celebrated within the entertainment industry. Do the right thing. Remove Amber Heard from Aquaman 2."
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However, last year, Peter Safran, producer of Aquaman 2, made the decision to stand by Amber Heard and her role as Princess Mera. Peter said they would not change creative plans based on "pure fan pressure".
Speaking on the Deadline Hero Nation podcast, he said:
"I don't think we're ever going to react to, honestly, pure fan pressure. You gotta do what's best for the movie. We felt that if it's James Wan and Jason Momoa, it should be Amber Heard. That's really what it was... One is not unaware of what is going on in the Twitter-verse, but that doesn't mean you have to react to it or take it as gospel or accede to their wishes. You have to do what's right for the film, and that's really where we landed on it."
Even if Safran changes his mind, the sequel has already wrapped filming, a key fact that the petition forgets to mention. Although re-shooting is possible, it is unlikely Heard will be removed from the film.
We will continue to update this story.
Dionne Brighton is a writer at Marie Claire UK, specialising in all things shopping, beauty and fashion. Born and raised in North London, she studied Literature at the University of East Anglia before taking the leap into journalism. These days, you can find her testing out the latest TikTok beauty trends or finding out what the next full Moon means.
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