Petitions against Amber Heard are gathering thousands of signatures following leaked audio in which the actress reportedly admits to hitting ex-husband Johnny Depp.
“A liar and an abuser, a shame for women,” begins one of two Change.org campaigns to remove Amber Heard, 33, from her role as global spokesperson for cosmetics brand L’Oréal.
The petition has accrued over 5,000 signatures, making it well over halfway to its goal of 7,500. A second campaign to remove Heard has accrued more than 4,300 signatures, with a goal of 5,000.
“After the shameful L’Oréal ad with Amber Heard during the Oscars people started to take interest,” writes petition creator Federica P. in a post.
“Amber Heard, for years now has been claiming to be the victim of abuse from her husband Johnny Depp,” writes the second campaign’s creator, Hillary Deanna. “In light of recently leaked recorded sessions between Ms. Heard and Mr. Depp, it has come to the attention of many that it was in fact the other way around.”
The sessions refer to an audio confession obtained by the Daily Mail in January.
“I’m sorry that I didn’t, uh, uh, hit you across the face in a proper slap, but I was hitting you, it was not punching you. Babe, you’re not punched,” the publication reports Heard tells Depp in the clip, “I don’t know what the motion of my actual hand was, but you’re fine, I did not hurt you, I did not punch you, I was hitting you.”
She allegedly continues, telling the 56-year-old actor, “You are such a baby. Grow the f–k up, Johnny.”
In a court filing last year, Heard alleged that Depp — to whom she was married for just over a year, before filing for divorce in May 2016 — repeatedly hit her, ripped out her hair, choked and nearly suffocated her. The filing was a response to Depp’s own $50 million defamation lawsuit against Heard, in turn a response to Heard’s 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which she describes being the victim of domestic abuse without mentioning the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star.
“Imagine watching TV and seeing your abuser getting portrayed as a ‘humanitarian,’ ” tweets a fan account taking Depp’s side in the domestic conflict, “@LOrealParisUSA STOP GLORIFYING ABUSERS!!”
L’Oréal did not immediately return a request for comment.
