A petition has been created on Change.org by Jeanne Larson to remove actress Amber Heard from Aquaman 2.
Heard, who played the Xebel princess Mera in both Justice League and Aquaman, has recently been accused of abusing her ex-husband Johnny Depp in a lawsuit filed by Depp. Depp is suing Heard for $50 million in a defamation case.
The petition created by Larson states Heard should be removed from Aquaman because she “has been exposed as a domestic abuser by Johnny Depp.” Larson recounts a number of the accusations found in Depp’s lawsuit 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.”
Larson adds that Heard has demonstrated a “repeated pattern of abuse” citing her arrest in 2009 for abusing her domestic partner Tasya Van Ree. While Heard was arrested, the case was dismissed by the judge.
The petition also states that Heard “has systematicaly (sp?) 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 then claims, “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.”
The petition concludes:
“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.”
The petition is to be sent to SVP of Publicity & Communications for DC Warner Bros Courtney Simmons and Warner Bros.
As of this writing, the petition has been signed by 615 people.
Aquaman 2 appears to have been green lighted with TheWrap reporting in February that David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick who co-wrote the first Aquaman will write the sequel.
Jason Momoa spoke to Total Film magazine in October revealing that he already had plans for Aquaman 2 indicating he already had the opening of Aquaman 2 ready and had pitched it to producer Peter Safran and Warner Bros. chairman Toby Emmerich.
“I definitely have an opinion. Even when we were shooting Aquaman, I have the opening of Aquaman 2 ready. I went in and pitched it to [producer Peter] Safran, and I pitched it to [Warner Bros. chairman] Toby Emmerich. They loved it. Its awesome… But yeah, I have plans for Aquaman 2.”
Aquaman 2 is currently slated for a December 16, 2022 release date.
Do you plan on signing this petition? Do you think Amber Heard should be removed from Aquaman 2?