Actor Johnny Depp has apologized for a remark that he made about US President Donald Trump assassination. "I apologise for the bad joke I attempted last night in poor taste about President Trump," Depp said in a statement to People magazine. "It did not come out as intended, and I intended no malice. I was only trying to amuse, not to harm anyone."
While attending the Glastonbury Festival in UK on Thursday, the Pirates of the Caribbean actor asked the crowd, "When was the last time an actor assassinated a President?" The comments referred to John Wilkes Booth, the actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. "It is just a question - I'm not insinuating anything," he added. "By the way, this is going to be in the press. It will be horrible. I like that you are all a part of it."
On Friday, the White House released a statement calling Depp's remarks "sad." The statement read: "President Trump has condemned violence in all forms and it's sad that others like Johnny Depp have not followed his lead. I hope that some of Mr. Depp's colleagues will speak out against this type of rhetoric as strongly as they would if his comments were directed to a Democrat elected official."
During an off-camera press briefing Friday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer called Depp's comments "troubling."
"The President's made it clear that we should denounce violence in all its forms, and I think if we're going to hold to that standard and we should all agree that standard should be universally called out," Spicer told CNN.
However, Depp is not the only celebrity who has been in a controversy related to Trump. Last month, comedian Kathy Griffin was also criticized after she posted a photograph of herself holding a mock "decapitated" head of Trump.
Singer Madonna also went on record saying she had "thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House." In March 2016, comedian George Lopez posted a tweet of a cartoon of former Mexican president Vincente Fox holding a decapitated head of Trump, with the caption "Make America Great Again."
