A Change.org petition to have Amber Heard removed from Aquaman 2 has reached more than 3.6 million signatures, making it one of the most popular on the platform. While the petition was launched in 2020, it’s recently picked up steam in the wake of the Johnny Depp defamation trial in which she’s being sued for $50 million.
- Many fans are behind Johnny Depp. The Pirates of the Caribbean actor is suing his ex-wife for alleged lost wages as a result of a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which she described herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” Fans have rallied around him throughout the case.
- The petition gained more than a million signatures last month alone. As more and more details of Heard and Depp’s marriage became public, instead of garnering public sympathy for Heard, the actors’ respective testimony seems to have discredited her even more while propping Depp up. That has led to a massive increase of signatures on the Amber Heard Aquaman 2 petition.
- Heard played Princess Mera in the 2018 Aquaman movie. She starred alongside Jason Momoa in the film and is due to reprise her role in the sequel which is due out in March 2023. And while she apparently has “less than 10 minutes of screentime in Aquaman 2” according to film critic Grace Randolph, fans don’t want her in the movie at all.
- It’s unclear whether the public case had an effect on Heard’s role in the movie. While several film critics have been given the opportunity to see the movie, it’s unclear whether Heard’s part was edited down as a result of everything that’s been going on or whether the role wasn’t that big this time around anyway.
- Jeanne Larson, the woman behind the Change.org petition, now has a goal of 4.5 million signatures. “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,” she writes in the petition’s description, “Do the right thing. Remove Amber Heard from Aquaman 2.”
