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A joke in Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt‘s new action movie, The Fall Guy, is facing backlash. Before the film hits theaters on Friday, May 3, some viewers are disagreeing with a joke that referred to Johnny Depp and Amber Heard‘s past relationship. The scene in question involves Hannah Waddingham‘s character, a producer on a film set, who walks into a trailer that is in disarray.
“It’s like Amber and Johnny were just in here,” she says. The joke seemingly pointed to the domestic violence and abuse accusations that Amber, 38, and Johnny, 60, hurled at each other. The ex-spouses were married from 2015 to 2017.
Moviegoers have taken to X (formerly known as Twitter) to discuss the controversial quip. One social media user tweeted, “the fall guy made a distasteful ‘joke’ about the domestic abuse amber suffered at the hands of johnny. it’s 2024, why are we writing these kinds of lines into movies? nasty work [sic].”
Another person chimed in by writing, “Domestic violence is not a joke. Everyone involved in @TheFallGuyMovie should be ashamed. How many people knew about this and did nothing? Sick, all of you.”
Amber and Johnny were embroiled in a lengthy legal dispute after the Aquaman actress wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post about domestic violence. Although she did not name the Pirates of the Caribbean star in the article, Johnny sued Amber for defamation. Both actors made startling allegations against each other throughout the highly publicized court battle in 2022. In the end, Johnny was awarded millions of dollars.
The Fall Guy is loosely based on the ’80s television series of the same title. The film follows Ryan’s character, Colt Seavers: a stunt performer who suffers a career-altering injury. He breaks up with his girlfriend, Jody Moreno (played by Emily), and leaves the stunt life behind. One year later, Colt finds himself back in the saddle of film sets again after a movie star disappears. He must now find the actor and win back his former girlfriend.
Ryan and Emily’s movie also celebrates the work of stunt performers. No one from the cast nor the crew has publicly responded to the backlash about the Amber and Johnny joke.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.
