A judge has granted Johnny Depp’s request to exclude the topics of his relationship with Aquaman star Amber Heard and his alleged substance abuse in his upcoming assault trial.
According to the New York Daily News, Superior Court of Los Angeles County Judge Holly J. Fujie granted these two exclusion requests as well as a request to exclude Depp’s “financial condition” from the jurors.
In the initial filing, Depp and his legal team argued that these topics would “improperly sway” the jury, stating that the topic of Depp’s alleged substance abuse “has no relevance to this case whatsoever.”:
“It goes without saying that Mr. Depp is a world-renowned actor and celebrity. Mr. Depp’s life and lifestyle are frequently the subject of articles and publications in print and electronic media, as well as on television. Many salacious headline-seeking articles have been published over the years speculating as to Mr. Depp’s use of alcohol or drugs. Such “evidence” has no relevance to this case whatsoever.”
Depp’s assault trial centers around an allegation by Gregg “Rocky” Brooks, a location manager for the Depp and Forest Whitaker led film City of Lies.
Brooks attempted to inform director Brad Furman that they had exceeded their shooting curfew of 7 PM and had to quickly wrap up shooting, to which Furman allegedly replied, “Why don’t you tell that to Johnny Depp?”
Attempting to speak to an on-site police officer, Brooks was accosted by Depp, whom allegedly shouted “Who the f*** are you? You have no right to tell me what to do! I don’t give a f*** who you are, and you can’t tell me what to do” followed by two punches to his lower rib cage.
Depp then allegedly taunted Brooks, saying that “I will give you $100,000 to punch me in the face right now!”
However, City of Lies script supervisor Emma Danoff refuted this version of events, claiming that Brooks was in fact hurling “racial and derogatory slurs” towards an Africa-American homeless woman for being in his way, prompting Depp to jump to her defense:
“He immediately stood up from our shared seat on the edge of a planter bench and went over to Brooks to stand up for the woman. Mr. Depp said to Mr. Brooks, ‘You can’t talk to her like that. You think she is something less than you? Who do you think you are? How dare you?’”
Danoff also claims that no punches were thrown, Depp did not taunt Brooks with the $100,000 offer, and that she possesses 40 time-stamped photos which support her story.
Brooks filed the lawsuit against Depp in 2018, seeking $70,000 in damages from the actor. Depp has denied these allegations and claims that any violence that occurred was done out of self-defense.
The trial is currently set to begin on October 21st.
While Depp’s lawyers attend to the case, Depp recently took to Instagram showing off a visit to the Neon Museum with Tim Burton.