Team Johnny Depp: Furious Fans Petition His Return to 'Fantastic Beasts'
Fans of Hollywood star Johnny Depp are outraged that he lost his role in Warner Bros' "Fantastic Beasts."
Now, they are petitioning that he should be reinstated and continue to star as the villain Gellert Grindelwald in the third and future movies of the franchise.
A Change.Org petition aims to get about 150,000 signatures, and currently, it has about 148,150 votes and counting.
The petition states, "Johnny Depp was asked by Warner Bros to resign and leave Grindelwald's role in the Fantastic Beasts 3 movie. This happened because of the verdict of his case with The Sun tabloid that was completely unfair. We want him back! Warner Bros should listen to the public, or we will boycott the movie!!!"
According to some of the reasons why it's getting a lot of signatures is because they claim that Johnny Depp "is innocent."
Some said that they wouldn't be watching the third because Warner Bros didn't care than an "innocent man" was falsely accused of a crime.
Other fans called what happened to Depp was "injustice" because the actor was "abused" and not the abuser.
"This is why men are too afraid to come forward, for fear of not being believed due to biases in the legal system which does not protect male victims of domestic violence."
Meanwhile, some people mentioned that his ex-wife Amber Heard should lose her career as well.
"Boycott Amber Heard! I second believe what she was saying."
On November 6, 2020, Johnny Depp said in a statement that he was asked to resign from a role in the hit film adaption of J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" prequel series.
"I have been asked to resign by Warner Bros. from my role as Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts, and I have respected and agreed to that request."
This news comes days after the 57-year-old lost a high-profile libel case in the UK against British tabloid The Sun.
They published an article in 2018 that alleged the "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" actor as a "wife-beater."
In the British court case, the judge found that what the outlet said was "substantially true."
12 of the 14 allegations Heard said were "supportable."
The next installment in the "Fantastic Beasts" franchise was supposed to have a November 2021 release. However, a statement from the studio now said that they had pushed back the movie's opening to the summer of 2022.
But despite Johnny Depp losing his role for the third movie, he is still reportedly going to be compensated in full.
The Hollywood Reporter claimed that Depp had a so-called pay-or-play contract, which would require him to be fully compensated whether or not the movie is made and if in the event he was recast.
This would be that Depp would have a happy payday, as Warner Bros' will be forced to shell out his full salary of $10 million.
While the salary is notable, it is also reported that Johnny Depp makes about $20 million, on average, per movie.
Now that Depp is out, Deadline reported that Mads Mikkelsen is on the top of the list of actors being considered to replace him in the "Harry Potter" spin-off.
