Every Halloween sees at least one celebrity sporting an offensive costume, and this year, that person is Emily Hampshire of Schitt’s Creek fame. Seriously, how the hell did she think this was a good idea?
WARNING: This article contains descriptions of abuse and sexual assault.
Hampshire and a friend dressed up as Johnny Depp and Amber Heard for Halloween, posting a series of photos on the actor’s Instagram. The pictures of them are hastily being scrubbed from the internet, but the descriptions remain, and they are BAD. Hampshire’s friend is dressed as Heard during the infamous domestic abuse defamation trial in 2022, where Depp sued Heard for defamation after she wrote a Washington Post op-ed describing herself as a survivor of abuse. She’s making different “crying” faces while Hampshire is dressed as Depp, with some fake tattoos and drawn-on facial hair.
It’s the choice of props that elevates this costume to being truly disturbing, though. In one photo, the pair pose with a fake piece of poop, a reference to the claim made against Heard that she defecated in Johnny Depp’s bed. Heard has always strongly denied this. In another, Hampshire’s Depp is holding a wine bottle which could be a nod to Depp’s problems with alcohol (still not very funny). But the wine bottle might also be referencing one particularly horrible detail that came out in Heard’s testimony. In May 2022, she tearfully recounted in court that Depp had sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle.
It’s completely gross that anyone out there is finding this funny.
Hampshire’s apology
To give Hampshire credit, she did apologize for her actions pretty fast — though it would have been a terrible PR move not to apologize when so many people were criticizing her.
On November 1, after deleting the photos, Hampshire said via her Instagram account:
“I want to address what is one of the most thoughtless, insensitive, and ignorant things I’ve ever done. For Halloween, I stupidly thought it would be funny to dress as Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.
I am deeply sorry and ashamed for putting something that awful out in the universe. Domestic abuse is never, ever funny. These are real issues with real people and I REALLY regret my actions. In the future I will do better. I’m so sorry.”
The comments left on Hampshire’s apology range from critical to supportive to the “cancel culture gone mad” kind of unhinged internet mutterings. A few of them, though, rightfully point out that the person Hampshire should really be apologizing to is Amber Heard herself. Heard’s allegations against Depp, published by British tabloid The Sun, were proven to be “substantially true” in a separate court case. And yet her career and reputation have taken a huge and horrible hit since she accused Depp of abuse. Her life has changed forever. Amber herself said on Instagram in 2022, “The vilification I have faced on social media is an amplified version of the ways in which women are re-victimized when they come forward.” Why would you decide she needs to be mocked as well as all that? Do better, everyone.
(featured image: CBC Television)
