Johnny Depp says Hollywood boycotting him after his legal issues

In his first interview since losing the libel case against UK tabloid The Sun last year, actor Johnny Depp recently told UK’s Sunday Times that he’s being boycotted by Hollywood.

The actor made the statement in reference to his latest film, Minamata, which had its original February 2021 release changed to an unscheduled date following his legal woes.

In the film, Depp plays photojournalist W Eugene Smith, who headed to Minamata in Japan in the 1970s to photograph and document the effects of mercury poisoning on the townspeople caused by industrial pollution. The film has been released in the UK.

Depp added during the interview that he had made a promise that the film would be respectful and not be exploitative of the people. He also alluded that it was unfair for the film and the people involved to have to pay the price for what’s happening in his life.

"Some films touch people," he said. "And this affects those in Minamata and people who experience similar things. And for anything ... for Hollywood's boycott of me? One man, one actor in an unpleasant and messy situation, over the last number of years?" 

He added that the fallout from the lawsuit was caused by an "absurdity of media mathematics".

"Whatever I’ve gone through, I’ve gone through. But, ultimately, this particular arena of my life has been so absurd," he said.

Depp lost the case against The Sun, which he filed after they ran a story calling him a “wife beater”. The UK court found for the publication, saying that the story was “substantially true”.

The 58-year-old Depp faced criticism last week when women filmmakers in Spain denounced his pick as the recipient of the lifetime achievement award at the San Sebastian film festival. The festival director, however, has defended the decision, saying that Depp had “not been arrested, charged nor convicted of any form of assault or violence against women”.