Johnny Depp Gets Support From Legendary Musician During Performance
They're probably going to take some flak for this.
This article is more than 2 years old
In the wake of the Pirates of the Caribbean star’s defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard, Johnny Depp is enjoying a number of very public displays of support from different celebrities. The latest tip of the hat comes from one of the last surviving members of one of the most influential rock bands of the twentieth century. Over the weekend, Paul McCartney made the controversial choice to play a video onstage featuring Depp, and many are taking it as the Beatles alum’s way of letting the world know he’s on Team Johnny.
On Saturday June 25, at the Glastonbury Festival in England, Paul McCartney dedicated his performance of “My Valentine” — off his 2012 album Kisses On The Bottom — to his wife Nancy who, according to LAD Bible, watched from the audience. Meanwhile, large screens on the stage displayed the song’s video which features Natalie Portman and Johnny Depp lip synching the tune while performing the lyrics in sign language. You can see a recording of the performance below, followed by the official “My Valentine” video.
As it is with everything involving Amber Heard and Johnny Depp, fans were split on social media regarding whether or not showing the video was a classy move on McCartney’s part. But the truth is that all it takes is a quick YouTube search to realize no one should’ve been very surprised. McCartney’s Glastonbury Festival performance of “My Valentine” was not the first time he displayed the video on stage while playing the song. Actually if this was meant as a sign of support toward Depp, then the former Beatle has been making it clear which side he was on since before the recent defamation case was decided. One fan video shows McCartney using the video in early May at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, and another shows him using it at Camping World Stadium in Orlando later the same month. Meanwhile, the verdict in the Depp/Heard trial wasn’t read until June 1. You can watch recordings of both performances below.
This support should not, perhaps, be a shock Johnny Depp and Paul McCartney seem to have a had a friendly relationship dating back at least as far as 2012 when Depp starred in the “My Valentine” video, which McCartney directed. Nor is that the only McCartney video in which Depp appears. In 2013 Paul McCartney released the song “Early Days” on the album New, and the accompanying video includes footage of a jam session at which Depp was present. You can barely make his face out in the music video, however he’s much more visible in a behind-the-scenes video featuring the jam session. You can watch both the music video and the jam session below.
The connections between Johnny Depp and Paul McCartney don’t end there. As Deadline and others reported at the time, the Beatle had a cameo as Uncle Jack in 2017’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Two years earlier, McCartney lent his vocals to the Hollywood Vampires’ debut album cover of Badfinger’s “Come and Get It.” Hollywood Vampires is the band Depp shares with Alice Cooper, Tommy Henriksen, and Joe Perry of Aerosmith fame. The band recently announced they’ll be touring next year, starting with a date in Oberhausen, Germany.
