Well, that was fast. Just a week after releasing new music, Rihanna pulled a move that fans are decidedly less hyped about.
On November 2, Entertainment Weekly confirmed that Johnny Depp will be featured in Rihanna's upcoming Savage x Fenty Show Vol. 4, which hits Amazon Prime on November 9. Depp, who has been accused of domestic abuse by ex-wife Amber Heard, will be the first man to have his own spotlight segment, per TMZ.
Though Depp won his highly publicized defamation case against Heard, many Rihanna fans don't understand why the “Lift Me Up" singer is choosing to give Depp a platform. (He lost a separate libel case in the U.K. in 2018.) “Johnny Depp has been embraced as a hero by unhinged right-wing misogynist extremists, and now he's been invited to appear in the @SavageXFenty show,” Twitter user Drew Dixon tweeted. “Never expected such a powerful woman to succumb to the #MeToo backlash. Really disappointing @rihanna.”
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Another Twitter user wrote, “Rihanna going out of her way to, like, rehabilitate the image of a domestic abuser and rapist is fucking crazy cause the hell is Johnny Depp, a rapidly decaying corpse, going to do at a LINGERIE SHOW?” Good question.
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“Rihanna stans really waited 7 years for a ballad and the platforming of an abuser,” another Twitter user wrote, while Vulture writer Zoë Alliyah tweeted, “This rihannaissance starting to feel like rihanmageddon.”
The same day that Depp's involvement was revealed, Amazon Prime dropped the event's first trailer on YouTube. “Now in its fourth consecutive year, the extraordinary fashion experience continues to challenge tradition and break boundaries,” the description read. “The annual fashion experience, returning to Prime Video on November 9, will feature performances by Anitta, Burna Boy, Don Toliver, and Maxwell Special appearances by Ángela Aguilar, Avani Gregg, Bella Poarch, Cara Delevingne, Damson Idris, Irina Shayk, Joan Smalls, Kornbread, Lara Stone, Lilly Singh, Marsai Martin, Precious Lee, Rickey Thompson, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Simu Liu, Taraji P. Henson, Taylour Paige, Winston Duke, Zach Miko, and many more.”
Interestingly, Johnny Depp was not mentioned.
