Petition Demanding Amber Heard's Removal From 'Aquaman 2' Has Surpassed 2 Million Signatures

The Johnny Depp and Amber Heard dispute has been going on for many years. A petition was started in 2019 to have Heard removed from the cast of Aquaman after Depp first sued her for defamation.

The petition now has over two million signatures demanding the actress be fired. It was created by Jeanne Larson and had hit a million signatures in 2020 following Depp's removal from the Fantastic Beasts film. Larson demanded that Heard must similarly also be removed from Aquaman 2 in which she plays Mera, claiming she "has been exposed as a domestic abuser." The movie is set to release on 17 March 2023.

Starting in 2016 when Heard got a restraining order against Depp after filing for divorce and then alleging during the proceedings that she had been verbally and physically abused throughout the relationship. Their divorce was finalized in 2017 and settled for a sum of $7 million. They had even signed a non-disclosure agreement to not discuss their relationship in public. Later, Heard penned the Washington Post op-ed in which she shared her alleged experience of being a victim of domestic abuse. Although she did not mention Depp by name, he decided to sue her for defamation because the article put him in a bad light.

Depp filed a $50 million lawsuit against Heard for defaming him with false allegations of abuse in the op-ed. “The op-ed depended on the central premise that Ms. Heard was a domestic abuse victim and that Mr. Depp perpetrated domestic violence against her,” the lawsuit stated, adding, that these allegations of Depp being an abuser "is categorically and demonstrably false." Depp also detailed the ways in which their relationship had turned sour and that he was not the abuser but claimed he was abused by Heard instead. The petition makes mention of this and other incidents including the time Heard allegedly threw vodka bottles at Depp, severing a part of his finger.

"Since Heard's divorce from Johnny Depp, she has systematically crusaded to ruin Depp in Hollywood, repeating multiple accounts of fake incidents in which she had actually abused Johnny Depp, but lied and created false accounts of him being the abuser," the petition states. It also mentions Heard's previous abuse with her former partner Tasya Van Ree. "Heard recounts fabricated incidents of Johnny Depp hitting her in the face when she had, in fact, punched him," the petition continues. "Though staff and neighbors in the building where she lived reported seeing no marks on her face in the hours and days after she says Johnny Depp hit her, yet she appeared in court six (6) days later with bruises on her face, asking for a temporary restraining order, which was granted."

The present trial has had contradictory statements about the events of abuse being presented in court. Kate James, Heard's former personal assistant has stated that all of Heard's claims of physical abuse are false and testified saying she never saw Heard suffer at the hands of her ex-husband. Depp's private security guard Sean Bett has also shared the violent and toxic nature of their relationship. “This can’t continue," he recalled telling Heard after one of their fights. "You guys are either going to kill each other or you’re going to be in jail.”