Johnny Depp changed the courtroom for the stage, just two days after his lawyers filed the final arguments in his defamation suit against ex-wife Amber Heard.
The actor joined his friend and rocker Jeff Beck, 77, on stage at Sheffield Town Hall in England on Sunday to perform versions of John Lennon’s “Isolation”, Marvin’s “What’s Going On” and “Little” by Jimi Hendrix.
Pictures of the surprise performance posted on Instagram showed Depp at the microphone in the role of lead singer.
The 58-year-old actor and Heard have been in court in Fairfax County, Virginia, after Depp filed a $ 50 million defamation suit against his ex-wife for a 2018 opinion piece he wrote in The Washington Post, which claimed she was a victim of “domestic abuse,” but did not identify him. Heard is suing him for $ 100 million.
The outcome of the case was handed over to the jury on Friday afternoon after both parties presented their final arguments.
Johnny Depp joins Jeff Beck at Sheffield Town Hall in England. Instgram Johnny Depp joined Jeff Beck on stage at a concert in Sheffield, England.
“There is an abuser in this room, but he is not Mr. Depp,” said his lawyer, Camille Vasquez. “Miss Heard is in fact the aggressor and Mr. Depp is the abuser.”
Heard’s lawyers, meanwhile, asked the jury to protect Heard’s right to freedom of expression.
“This trial is much more than Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard. It’s about free speech and getting up, protecting it, and rejecting Mr. Depp’s allegations against Amber,” said his lawyer Ben Rottenborn.
The jury broke the long weekend without reaching a verdict, but is scheduled to return at 9 a.m. Tuesday to resume deliberations.