Olly Alexander says he won’t wear Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty after reported Johnny Depp appearance in fashion show

4 November, 2022

Olly Alexander

Olly Alexander (aka Years & Years) has said he will no longer be wearing items from Rihanna‘s Savage x Fenty range after it was reported that Johnny Depp will make an appearance in the brand’s next fashion show.

TMZ recently reported that Depp, who remains a controversial figure following his highly-publicised defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard, will be the first male to headline the “star moment” in a Savage x Fenty show later this month.

It’s believed that Depp has already filmed his role in the show, which is set to premiere on Amazon Prime Video next week on November 9. It will mark the fourth iteration of Rihanna’s fashion show series.

Alexander, who has previously been photographed wearing a harness and underwear for a Savage x Fenty promotional campaign, has expressed disappointment with the decision to hire Depp for the role. Yesterday (November 3), he retweeted a post about Depp’s appearance in the show, adding a frown emoticon.

A fan replied to that tweet saying that Alexander wears the Savage x Fenty range “so well”. He responded by thanking them but added that “after this news I won’t be wearing it anymore”.

Depp won a defamation case against Heard in June. He sued his ex-wife over a 2018 op-ed for The Washington Post in which Heard wrote about being a survivor of domestic violence. The piece did not mention Depp by name, but the actor’s lawyers argued it falsely implied she was sexually and physically abused by him in their marriage. Heard filed a counterclaim, arguing he created a smear campaign against her.

Depp was awarded $10million (£8million) in compensatory damages and $5million in punitive damages, with the jury finding that Heard made “false” statements about their marriage and that she acted with “actual malice”. Heard was awarded $2million, after the jury found that Depp had defamed her through his attorney.

In July, Heard filed an official notice to appeal the outcome of the trial. A spokesperson for Heard said: “We believe the court made errors that prevented a just and fair verdict consistent with the first amendment. We are therefore appealing the verdict.” Depp has also recently appealed the verdict that awarded Heard $2million.

Days after the verdict, Heard publicly spoke out in an interview with NBC Today. “Even somebody who is sure I’m deserving of all this hate and vitriol, even if you think that I’m lying, you still couldn’t look me in the eye and tell me that you think on social media there’s been a fair representation,” she said. “You cannot tell me that you think that this has been fair.”

Despite Depp’s win, many public figures have defended Heard. Last month, Phoebe Bridgers discussed what she described as “disgusting” online treatment Heard received during and after the trial.

“If Amber Heard exhibited any neurotic behaviour, it was held against her. Then Johnny Depp, out of his mouth, admitted some of the most violent, crazy shit in court, and it’s somehow like, people aren’t surprised?” Bridgers said. “It was treated like a fandom war,” Bridgers added of the online commentary surrounding the trial. “Laughing at someone crying in court? It was disgusting.”

Similarly, in September, Succession actor Brian Cox said he felt “sorry” for Heard during an interview with The Times. “I think she got the rough end of it.” During the interview, Cox said the “public love” Depp. When the interviewer suggested the jury in the trial also loved Depp, Cox replied: “Well, they did.”

It was recently reported that Depp and Jeff Beck are suing professor and folklorist Bruce Jackson, over his allegations that the pair’s song ‘Sad Motherfuckin’ Parade’ plagiarises an old poem titled Hobo Ben. Jackson accused Depp and Beck of pulling lines from the poem back in August, which he references in his 1974 book about toasts, Get Your Ass In The Water And Swim Like Me.

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