Another wave of controversy hits Johnny Depp, now for the use of indigenous imagery in the advertising of a Dior perfume. They accuse him of "cultural appropriation."
Actor Johnny Depp is in the middle of a million-dollar lawsuit with his ex, actress Amber Heard, whom he accuses of having invented a reputation for violence after the divorce. The scandal almost cost him his villain role in the third part of Fantastic Beasts, the saga written by the author of Harry Potter. Dedicated to his other passion, music, to get away from problems he went on tour with Hollywood Vampires, the band where he plays guitar with rockers Alice Cooper and Joe Perry.
Unfortunately for him, there is no notion of “low profile” in the Depp universe. That's why when the first images of the new Sauvage perfume campaign from the French house Dior, of which Johnny is the face, came out on Twitter, everything rotted.
In the first notice, the problem had been that given the complaints of violence from his ex, it was not well received that he promoted a perfume called “savage.” But this time the controversy went further, and linked it on the rebound, because there were those who were bothered by the use of indigenous imagery in the advertisement, associated with that word, savage.
Depp, who played Tonto in the 2013 film The Lone Ranger, was named an “honorary member of the Comanche tribe” at the time, amid some criticism of cultural appropriation. There were complaints because a white man was playing an Indian, but not because the plainsman's friend was called “Tonto” in the English version.
The Comanche chief praised that the actor wanted the role of the Indian friend of the white man in that Western to not be passive. “I wanted to show a warrior with integrity and dignity and not the one who brings water to the target,” said the actor.
In fashion, it is very common to be accused of “cultural appropriation,” a sin that multiplies as social media amplifies negative voices. He passed on supermodel Karlie Kloss for dressing as a geisha, and Marc Jacobs for using white models with dreadlocks. In music, Paul Simon, David Byrne and even Manu Chao have already suffered it, criticized for exploring other cultures. Lately, even the singer Ariana Grande suffered from it, who was accused on the networks of having tried to darken her skin with makeup to “blacken herself” in her latest video.
The Dior thing was wild and Depp got into that discussion. In the preview that was seen, the actor plays the guitar, there is an Indian model and an Indian in ceremonial clothes doing a ritual dance. It turns out that the Indian in question, Hanley Frost, is a cultural coordinator for the Ute tribe and was invited by the video production to bless the land where the commercial was going to be filmed.
It seems to Frost that the controversy is not worth it, that the indigenous community will never avoid the use of pejorative terms and that everything is relative, that the fans of the “redskins”, the Washington football team that plays in the NFL, and no one says anything.
“Throughout his entire career Johnny Depp has displayed traits that align with the values and worldview that indigenous people share,” said Donna Harris, president of the organization Americans for Indian Opportunity when he was named “honorary Comanche.” and it is the one that now thanks Dior and other brands that give jobs to Native Americans.
Dior removed all traces of her accusation and apologized. Brands do it all the time, they test the networks and then apologize. There is a wave of political correctness that becomes a tsunami when amplified virtually. “Only minutes of a long video made with the greatest respect for the indigenous people were seen, it is a shame that there are some who immediately drew their weapons to criticize without having seen the finished work,” Depp counterattacked, opening another discussion.
