Johnny Depp has been fired from the upcoming ‘Fantastic Beasts 3’ film after he lost his libel suit against the ‘The Sun.’
According to Deadline Warner Bros. has released a statement and has pushed the movie back from releasing on November 12, 2021 until summer 2022.
“Johnny Depp will depart the Fantastic Beasts franchise. We thank Johnny for his work on the films to date. Fantastic Beasts 3 is currently in production, and the role of Gellert Grindelwald will be recast. The film will debut in theaters worldwide in the summer of 2022″.
Depp confirmed this by posting the following on his Instagram account:
View this post on Instagram
There are also rumors that Disney intends to not use him as Captain Jack Sparrow moving forward. Previously it was discussed that he would return for a small part of the next film and now that has been rumored to change.
It is important to note that this was a libel case and not a domestic abuse one. Libel is something that is really hard to prove and his loss was not an admission that he was guilty or innocent anymore than it was a court ruling that Amber Heard was guilty or innocent.
Disney and Warner Bros. pulling him from films makes it seem like he’s somehow guilty of being a “wife beater” but that isn’t what the case proved. Heard is still being allowed in ‘Aquaman 2’ even though she hasn’t been proven to be innocent of accusations against her either.
It seems to me that if one side is punished based on accusations, then they both should be.
I know a lot of Disney and Harry Potter fans are not going to be happy about these decisions. Personally, I would feel differently about it if one or both were actually proven guilty. Right now it just seems hypocritical.
What do you think? Comment and let us know.
Source: Deadline
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