Millions of moviegoers — 2,253,498, as of Thursday afternoon, and counting — want Amber Heard cut from the Aquaman sequel.
That’s how many people have signed a Change.org petition titled “Remove Amber Heard from Aquaman 2,” in the wake of the increasingly ugly defamation trial that has played out with her ex Johnny Depp.
The description of the undated petition, with the byline of Jeanne Larson, says that Heard has been “exposed as a domestic abuser.”
“As Amber Heard is a known and proven domestic abuser, Warner Brothers and DC Entertainment should and must remove Heard from their Aquaman 2 film project. They must not ignore the suffering of Heard’s victims, and must not glamorize a domestic abuser,” Larson says in part. “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.”
Warner Bros. and a rep for Heard did not respond to Yahoo Entertainment’s requests for comment.
According to Change.org, the petition was created on March 19, 2019. However, there’s been renewed interest in it this month, amid the explosive trial that has exposed the tumultuous relationship between the actors, who were married in Feb. 2015 and split in May 2016.
These latest court proceedings began April 11, three years after Depp filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against Heard over a 2018 op-ed that she wrote for the Washington Post about domestic abuse. Although Depp wasn’t named, he said that his career was irreparably damaged, and he was fired from the lucrative Pirates of the Caribbean franchise days later. She countersued him for $100 million last year.
The original Aquaman, released in 2018, was a blockbuster in the same class as the Pirates movies. It’s one of just a few dozen films to have earned more than $1 billion at the box office. The sequel, officially titled Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, has already been shot. Star Jason Momoa, who plays the title character, confirmed in December that filming had wrapped. The high-profile flick is scheduled to arrive in theaters on March 17, 2023. Director James Wan said Tuesday as he debuted a sizzle reel from the movie at CinemaCon that he was “still in the midst” of his director’s cut.
