“Banned From Hollywood: Leo Blacklists Johnny!” says an article in NW. According to the magazine, “Johnny Depp is being ordered out of Hollywood for good, following his spectacular fall from grace — and Leonardo DiCaprio is showing him the door!”
The outlet reports that it’s been revealed that Depp gave DiCaprio the “derogatory” nickname of “Pumpkin Head” and accused Heard of cheating on him with the Revenant actor after they auditioned for an unnamed film together.
“Leo is livid,” a source close to DiCaprio says. “He’s banned all of his associates, as well as anyone who wants to work with him ever again, from dealing with Johnny. He can’t believe Johnny’s thrown him into his mess like it’s no big deal.”
The magazine then says that DiCaprio’s finally settling down with his girlfriend, Camila Morrone, and rumor has it that they’re already secretly engaged. The big trigger for DiCaprio, the source reveals, is that “Johnny’s wild accusations” are “derailing” his relationship — and possible engagement — with Morrone.
The outlet also notes that Depp’s confessed to “torturing” DiCaprio in the past, as the two worked on What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? early in DiCaprio’s career.
“Leo barely even remembers Amber … so he’s even more furious,” the snitch adds, emphasizing that the actor is beyond frustrated with the situation. “He’s very serious about Camila right now and he doesn’t need to have his name dragged through the mud. Johnny’s really thrown him under the bus and he’s 100 percent blacklisted him.”
“Johnny used to be the kingpin in LA but the town is now presided over by the likes of Leo and his best friends, including Brad [Pitt], Bradley [Cooper], and George [Clooney],” the insider argues. They boldly declare,
Johnny is going to find himself almost unemployable after all this is over.
“He did himself no favors by revealing the childish nicknames he’d saddled a lot of them with earlier,” the tipster concludes. “In his blind determination to destroy Amber, he’s pretty much cut off his nose to spite his face.”
Here’s what we don’t get: Johnny Depp didn’t mention Leonardo DiCaprio, Amber Heard did. Heard has alleged that Depp accused her of having affairs with a number of stars, including Channing Tatum, Eddie Redmayne, Kelly Garner, and Liam Hemsworth.
“He also accused me of having affairs with stars I auditioned with, like Leonardo DiCaprio,” Heard’s written statement reads. The actress was also the one who mentioned the three nicknames Depp allegedly gave to other actors, which is not a number we’d consider “a lot.”
Heard told the court, “For example, Leonardo DiCaprio was ‘pumpkin-head’, Channing Tatum was ‘potato-head’ and ‘Jim Turd Sturgess’.”
So Depp hasn’t thrown DiCaprio into the mess or under the bus, meaning this blacklisting story is bunk from the get-go. Even then, “Pumpkin Head” isn’t really a wrath-inspiring jab, let alone something that would get a veteran of show business like DiCaprio in a panic. The lies don’t stop there, unfortunately.
Depp spoke positively about DiCaprio in 2016, noting that he deeply respects his fellow hardworking actor. This is the source of the “tortured” claim — Depp admitted that he was less than kind to the then-fledgling actor on the set of What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? in the ‘90s.
DiCaprio, who’s 12 years younger than Depp, was apparently quite excited about video games at the time, and Depp, who said he was in a bad place at the time of filming, wasn’t exactly interested.
According to this tabloid, a 30-year-old actor refusing to listen to a teen talk about video games and not allowing him to bum cigarettes off of him is worthy of being called “torture” without the context of Depp’s remorseful and good-humored anecdote.
Given that it’s been decades since the movie came out and both are still in the same industry, Depp added that he sees DiCaprio from time to time.
Likewise, there isn’t any evidence of DiCaprio’s wrath or hatred or whatever narrative the tabloid is trying to sell here. This is the same actor who has such a strong distaste for unnecessarily being in the public eye that he may have once asked Kevin Connolly to cover him up in a photo posted to Instagram.
He’s not banging on doors demanding that Depp doesn’t get work so he can have a big romantic proposal.
By the way, DiCaprio isn’t engaged, and we’d take any talk of wedding plans coming from NW to be taken with a grain of salt. The tabloid previously reported that DiCaprio and Morrone were straight-up married and expecting a baby, and months have passed without a wedding ring or newborn.
It looks like this outlet has decided to just repeat the claim of DiCaprio getting married until it either comes true or he and his girlfriend break up.
For what it’s worth, the “100 percent blacklisted” claim is just as ridiculous. If being mentioned by Heard is enough to scare others off from working with Depp, then why are Eddie Redmayne and Johnny Depp both attached to the third Fantastic Beasts film? Despite the length of the case, Depp is still collaborating with plenty of other stars, including big names like Jude Law and Bill Nighy. His latest film, Minamata, just locked in its international distribution deals.
Like other sources of nasty rumors, NW is just looking to capitalize on the legal situation and stir up some trouble, which is despicable enough when it comes to humdrum Hollywood lawsuits, but to do so on a case so centered on domestic violence is downright despicable.
Last year, the tabloid was trying to push rumors about Depp trying to romantically reunite with Winona Ryder. Once the court case concludes, we wouldn’t be shocked to see that gossip return. After all, it’s clear that this magazine doesn’t care for the truth.