Ricky Gervais Gives His Honest Opinion On The Johnny Depp And Amber Heard Case

Ricky Gervais, the comedian famous for his offending roasts of celebrities while hosting award shows, stayed neutral while giving his opinion on Depp-Heard case.

Johnny Depp is currently suing Heard for $50 million (£38.2 million) over domestic abuse claims she made in a 2018 article in The Washington Post.

The trial enters its sixth and final week at Virginia's Fairfax County Circuit Court today (23 May), with proceedings set to wrap up on Friday.

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Gervais and Depp are longtime friends, having collaborated for The Office creator's comedy series Life's Too Short.

But when quizzed about the case during a recent interview with street journalist Adam Glyn, the 60-year-old star kept his opinion balanced while still offering up his thoughts on the media circus surrounding the trial.

"I stay away from all that, I don't really look at that celebrity stuff, even though this isn't celebrity [stuff] is it - but I try not to have it in my head," he explained.

"I don't think either of them are going to come out of it as a win because all of your private stuff... I don't know, I hate having to go through it and it's even weirder that they televise a court case.

"So I don't really do that stuff."

Numerous people agreed with Gervais' attitude, with one writing on TikTok: "He’s so right, the entire court case is a weird situation. Here, let’s point and laugh at a very serious court case that could become case law."

Another who empathised with the comedian said: "Poor Ricky... he was put on the spot and obviously didn't want to comment negatively. I've never seen him stutter so much."

A third wrote: "Well done Ricky he could have taken a that opportunity to make a humerus comment. Fair play to him playing it straight."

Ricky Gervais and Johnny Depp have a long history together. In 2011 Golden Globe Award ceremony, Gervais took aim at the Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie movie The Tourist, which had been nominated in three categories in the previous year's event.

Following his brutal roast of the movie and what he termed as its lack of merit to feature at the Golden Globes, the grapevine started bustling with rumors that Depp and Jolie were absolutely offended by the jokes at their expense. It wasn't until about one year later that the Pirates of the Caribbean star got to exact his revenge on Gervais, in a cameo on the latter's mockumentary sitcom, Life's Too Short.

Depp appeared in the second episode of the first season, armed with some jokes of his own aimed at Gervais. The two stars were featuring on the show as their real-life selves. The Pirates star hit out at his would-be nemesis for his attacks on The Tourist, as well as on Tim Allen.

"What is nastier than Ricky Gervais' jokes? His teeth," Depp started. "Why do people take an instant disliking to Ricky Gervais? Because it saves time!" "Why did Ricky Gervais do a series of audiobooks? So that the blind could hate him as well," he continued. The scene ended with the actor storming out of the room in a fit, acting still frustrated at the comedian.

The pair also appeared on The Graham Norton Show at around the same time, and ultimately quash any whispers of discord between them. Gervais confirmed that there was no blood between them saying, "This [notion that there is any bad blood] is ridiculous."

While it's yet to be seen what the outcome of the trial will be, there's still a number of days left until the jury decide whether Heard did defame Depp in the op-ed.

Speaking about the decision, Kimberly Lau, a partner at New York legal firm Warshaw Burstein and an expert in libel and slander, previously told : "The opinion of one is not enough; all seven must agree.

"And while judges, unlike juries, already have an understanding of the law, the jury is comprised of several individuals whose life experiences can have an impact on how they view and weigh the evidence at trial.”