This year’s MTV Video Music Awards may have had some memorable queer moments, but there was one bold decision that polarized viewers — an appearance by Johnny Depp. And many people wasted no time in calling the show out about the bewildering move, including Amber Heard’s sister.
Rumors that Depp would be included in the show started buzzing days earlier. When the time came, he appeared digitally, with his face superimposed on MTV’s iconic moon person, quipping, “I needed the work.”
It’s a tentative — and bizarre — step back into the limelight following the defamation trial against his ex-wife for writing an op-ed about domestic violence back in 2016. Despite previously losing a similar case against The Sun, allowing him to be forever branded a “wife beater” in the UK without fear of legal repercussion, a jury of his peers ruled in his favor this time around.
However, the real trial played out in the court of public opinion, with self-proclaimed legal experts, fans, and curious onlookers poring over the evidence presented and reaching wildly different conclusions while turning something extremely serious into pure spectacle. Plenty has already been written about that, and it’s no surprise that the divisiveness of the court case translated into a divide over MTV’s decision to platform a man that many believe set a dangerous precedent for attacking accusers.
Heard’s sister, Whitney Henriquez, has remained one of her biggest supporters, and was among those blasting the VMAs for including Depp in the show.
“@MTV you’re disgusting and clearly desperate!” she wrote on her Instagram stories, over an image of her sister. “I really hope that none of the people that made this call have daughters…”
She tagged the post both #DVMAS, seemingly a combination of “domestic violence” and “VMAs,” and #IStandWithAmberHeard.
Adding to the strangeness of it all is that people have since come forward on social media claiming to have been audience members at the awards show (some sharing photos of themselves there to prove it), saying they had no idea Depp was digitally there until seeing the reaction online.
“that was pre-recorded and they edited in the applause,” one wrote. “they knew we wouldn’t have it.”
While a digital appearance being pre-recorded and edited into a live show isn’t actually out of the ordinary, and wouldn’t prove in and of itself that MTV was trying to avoid an unexpected audience reaction, it also isn’t a great look to present a room full of entertainment industry professionals and fans as eagerly cheering on someone as controversial as Depp when it seems likely that’s not what actually happened.
Heard is currently expected to appeal the verdict in the defamation case, and either way, it seems unlikely this will be a less contentious topic on the internet any time soon.
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