Johnny Depp certainly doesn’t top the list of most beloved Hollywood celebrities at the moment. He might have won the defamation case against Amber Heard but there are a plethora of people out there who believe Heard’s claims of domestic violence to be true. One of the major things that go against the Edward Scissorhands actor is his association with other celebrities who have major abuse and assault allegations against them – like Marilyn Manson who happens to be Depp’s best friend. Another ‘close friend’ of Depp is the Polish filmmaker, Roman Polanski, who he once blatantly defended during a press conference in 2010. And Depp might be worried about the video resurfacing 13 years later on Twitter.

The heinous r*pe charges against Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski
Roam Polanski is a Polish and French film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor who fled the country before he was sentenced

Roman Polanski is a legendary French-Polish filmmaker who has won numerous accolades in his decades-long career. He has also been charged with several allegations of r*pe and sexual assault of minor girls. In 1977, he was charged with six counts of offenses against a 13-year-old girl including forcing drugs on a minor, statutory r*pe, and sodomy. He pled guilty to statutory r*pe with the hopes of getting a plea bargain against the other five, more serious offenses. But before getting sentenced, he managed to escape to France in 1978 where he lived like a fugitive from U.S. justice, avoiding any visits to nations that might extradite him to the US.

Back in 2009, almost 3 decades after The Pianist director pled guilty to the r*pe charges, he was arrested in Switzerland where he went to attend a film festival and was due to be honored for his contribution to cinema. What followed was an infamous wave of support for the child sexual abuser in the name of art, and with the defense that what happened was a long time ago. One such celebrity who was pretty vocal in his defense of the Chinatown director was none other than Johnny Depp.

Also Read: After Will Smith’s Oscar Ban, Fans Demanding The Academy Ban Weinstein, Polanski

Johnny Depp defended Roman Polanski on account of him being a family man

Roman Polanski and Johnny Depp
Roman Polanski and Johnny Depp

The Pirates of the Caribbean actor has worked with Polanski in the 1999 film, The Ninth Gate. In 2010, while the Rosemary’s Baby director was under house arrest, Depp was asked for his views on the matter by reporters during a press conference. Depp had quite a light-hearted response to the heinous allegations. He said with a half-smiling demeanor:

“Why now?… I mean obviously, there is something going on somewhere. And somebody had to make a deal with someone for something.  And maybe there’s a little money involved, I don’t know. But why now? He’s been going there for thirty years… Thirty years he’s been going there. He has a place, he has a house there.”

Johnny Depp defended Roman Polanski
Johnny Depp defended Roman Polanski

Also Read: “It’s probably not far away”: Johnny Depp Wanted To Retire from Acting as It Was Turning Him into a Terrible Person

The Fantastic Beasts actor went on to reinstate his views on the subject and his faith in the director,

“And also the thing is very clearly, very clearly… he has proven this: Roman Polanski is not a predator.”

Explaining his reasoning for such a conclusion, the 59-year-old said,

“I mean, you know, he is 75 years old, or 76. He’s got two beautiful kids. He’s got a wife that he’s been with for a long long time. He is not out on the street.”

The resurfaced clip of Depp defending Polanski has already garnered a fair number of likes, comments, and retweets and there’s a revived furor against the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory actor on the micro-blogging site.

Also Read: Popular Celebrities Who Once Showed Their Support For Roman Polanski

Source: Twitter

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