Fantastic Beasts 2: Why Johnny Depp is still in the movie, per David Yates

Director David Yates defended Johnny Depp’s role in Fantastic Beasts amidst a ton of backlash, saying only one woman, Amber Heard, “took a pop” at Depp.

As the wave of sexual harassment and abuse allegations continues, fans have wondered what should happen to the alleged abusers’ careers and prior work. Men have been fired, their shows have been canceled or taken out of circulation, and more. For example, Harvey Weinstein’s career is pretty much over. Louis C.K.’s movie I Love You ,Daddy and his appearances were canceled. Charlie Rose and others have lost their jobs. Christopher Plummer replaced Kevin Spacey in All the Money in the World. But there seems to be one big exception in the entertainment industry: Johnny Depp.

Depp’s ex-wife Amber Heard previously accused him of domestic violence. She accused him of emotional and physical abuse, released a video of Depp, and released a photo of herself with a black eye. A friend also wrote an essay corroborating Heard’s claims. Depp denied the allegations, though. They eventually settled their divorce and Heard dropped her restraining order.

And yet despite the accusations, Depp appeared as Gellert Grindelwald at the end of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and will play a much larger role in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

Warner Bros. has faced a lot of backlash from Harry Potter fans for choosing to keep Depp in the movie despite the domestic violence allegations. Fans have called for Depp to be replaced like Spacey was in light of these accusations. But Warner Bros. stands behind its decision.

“Honestly, there’s an issue at the moment where there’s a lot of people being accused of things, they’re being accused by multiple victims, and it’s compelling and frightening,” director David Yates told EW.

He added:

"With Johnny, it seems to me there was one person who took a pop at him and claimed something. I can only tell you about the man I see every day: He’s full of decency and kindness, and that’s all I see. Whatever accusation was out there doesn’t tally with the kind of human being I’ve been working with."

Yates went on to say that many of Depp’s exes came to his defense when Heard’s allegations came out, and noted that this is different than the cases where we’ve seem multiple accusers from years and years. “Johnny isn’t in that category in any shape or form,” he said. “So to me, it doesn’t bear any more analysis. It’s a dead issue.”

Obviously, this is a complicated issue. There have been so many accusations coming out at once, so cases like Depp’s are being equated with much more extreme cases like Weinstein’s. And you need to look at each case individually.

So what do you do with an accusation that hasn’t been proven and a divorce that’s been settled? Do these people deserve to be seen as innocent until proven guilty? How do you reconcile these accusations with people saying, “This isn’t the man I know”? Are multiple accusations across decades worse than one accusation? Yes, they show a disturbing pattern, but is one accusation of domestic violence enough?

Yates’ statement feels unsatisfying. Why should it matter that Heard is the only accuser? Just because there isn’t a history of abuse, doesn’t mean the abuse isn’t real. That “one person” was his ex-wife and she took a “pop” at Depp by sharing photos and stories of his alleged abuse.

And how many times have we seen people run to their friends’ defense by saying that’s not who they know?

The fact that Depp is such a big star also probably plays a huge part in keeping him in Fantastic Beasts. Maybe having him in the Harry Potter spinoffs is important enough for them to ignore Heard’s accusations. And despite the new trend of taking action against accused men, this kind of reaction sadly still feels normal.

Next: Where is Fantastic Beasts 2: The Crimes of Grindelwald set?

Nobody can really know if Depp is guilty or not, though Heard did provide evidence. And maybe Yates and Warner Bros. do believe he’s innocent and should stay in the role. We’ll just have to wait and see how much this actually affects fans’ responses to the movie.