The petition to remove Amber Heard from Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom racked up another million signatures in just a few days.
On April 28, CBR reported that the Change.org petition had cleared 2 million signatures. At the time of this writing, that number is approaching 3.1 million. "In his $50 million lawsuit, Johnny Depp describes many incidents of domestic abuse that he suffered at the hands of his (then) wife Amber Heard, including one incident where she punched him twice in the face and another where she shattered his finger with a vodka bottle, and his finger had to be surgically reattached," the petition reads. It also cites Heard's 2009 arrest for domestic abuse against Tasya Van Ree, "demonstrating a repeated pattern of abuse by Amber Heard."
The lawsuit cited in the petition is currently taking place in Virginia nearly two years after Depp lost a libel case against The Sun over a headline that referred to him as a "wife beater." Days later, Warner Bros. asked him to resign from Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. Depp has already testified, while Heard has yet to take the stand.
Though Heard portrayed Mera in 2018's Aquaman, it was recently revealed that she was nearly dropped from the sequel due to chemistry concerns with lead actor Jason Momoa. It was also revealed during the current trial that Heard's 2018 op-ed -- which is at the heart of the lawsuit -- was specifically timed to capitalize on Aquaman's press in December 2018.
Producer Peter Safran commented on the petition to pull Heard from the Aquaman franchise in July 2021. "I don't think we're ever going to react to, honestly, pure fan pressure," he explained. "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."
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom arrives in theaters March 17, 2023.
Source: Change.org