Getty Images
A new social media campaign with the hashtag #CannesYouNot calls on the Cannes Film Festival to “celebrate abusers over 76 years.”
The campaign was launched online, days before the festival, by supporters of Amber Heard.
Ex-husband Johnny Depp’s new film, “Jeanne de Paris,” will open the prestigious festival on Tuesday night when it kicks off in Cannes, in the south of France.
Eve Barlow – journalist, activist and close friend of Amber Heard’s – spread the hashtag across her social media platforms. “Cannes seems proud of its history of supporting rapists and abusers,” Barlow said Posted on social media With the French expression, “Plus ça change,” which roughly translates to “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
Alongside her caption, Barlow posted a series of photos depicting accused men who have been Cannes celebrities over the years, including Depp, Roman Polanski, Harvey Weinstein, Woody Allen, Gerard Depardieu, and Luc Besson. “If you support Cannes, you support scammers,” Barlow’s post reads.
The hashtag #CannesYouNot is being promoted via Pro-Heard’s social media accounts. A supporter named Rebecca, who runs Twitter account LeaveHeardAlone, one of the individuals who helped organize the campaign. Rebecca (who asked diverse To be identified by her first name only, in order to maintain her anonymity and avoid online harassment) She says that most of the people involved in organizing the campaign, herself included, are survivors of sexual assault. They found the Depp v. Heard trial to be “heartbreaking and chilling”.
“The Depp v. Heard trial became the vehicle through which the backlash against the #MeToo movement spread. It seems like the Hollywood industries are riding this backlash back to the status quo,” says Rebecca. “To open a festival with Johnny Depp? To be honest, it feels like a slap in the face.
Cannes banned protests along the Croisette and surrounding areas during the Cannes Film Festival. However, organizers of the #CannesYouNot campaign say, they cannot be stopped from protesting online. The campaign was designed with Depp in mind, says Rebecca, but the intention is to highlight “the larger issue of protecting the film industry from and insulating men accused of abuse.”
“In the wake of Harvey Weinstein’s transformational moment, the Cannes Film Festival said they were taking allegations of abuse very seriously,” adds Rebecca. “We think it is hypocritical for the Cannes Film Festival to have an anti-discrimination and anti-abuse policy, while opening the festival with a film starring Johnny Depp.”
On Monday at the festival’s first press conference, Cannes president Thierry Frémaux responded to criticism that Cannes was supporting the aggressor. Speaking to a room full of journalists, Fremaux said, “If you think it’s a festival of rapists, you wouldn’t be here listening to me, you wouldn’t be complaining that you can’t get tickets to shows.”
Depp’s public persona over the past few years has been largely defined by his ongoing legal battles with Heard. He lost a defamation case in 2020 related to allegations of abuse in the UK, then won another case in the US that captivated the world in 2022 with the trial broadcast and closely examined via TikTok. The Cannes opening of “Jeanne du Barry” is seen as an important comeback for Depp. And what a difference it makes each year: During last year’s Cannes Film Festival, the trial was on. A few days after the festival ended, the jury ruled in favor of Depp.
Although Depp remains a controversial figure whose star power has waned amid his legal battles and troubling allegations against him, the past year has seen a stunning turnaround for the former A-lister who was dropped from mega-franchises, including “Fantastic Beasts” and “Pirates of Love”. Caribbean.” Aside from its grand opening at Cannes, news recently broke that Al Pacino will star in a film Depp will direct, marking his first directorial work in over 25 years; This film will also be shown to buyers in Cannes. And Depp just signed a $20 million deal with Dior, diverse reported, and it’s the largest men’s fragrance convention of all time.
“Jeanne Du Barry” is directed by Maywen, who recently admitted assault by spitting in the face of a journalist who filed a complaint against her earlier this year.
Fremaux also defended opening the festival with Depp’s film. “I don’t know about Johnny Depp’s image in the US,” he said at the inaugural press conference. “To tell you the truth, in my life I have only one rule, and that is freedom of thought, freedom of expression and action within a legal framework… If Johnny Depp had been banned from acting in a movie or a movie that had been banned, we wouldn’t be talking about it here.”
Fremo added that he did not keep up with the Depp v. Heard trial. He said, “I’m the last person who can discuss all of this.” “If there’s one person in this world who hasn’t found the slightest bit interested in this highly publicized trial, it’s me. I don’t know what it’s about. I also care about Johnny Depp as an actor.”