Johnny Depp apologizes for joke about assassinating Donald Trump

In this May 23, 2016 file photo, Johnny Depp arrives at the premiere of "Alice Through the Looking Glass" at the El Capitan Theatre, in Los Angeles.
In this May 23, 2016 file photo, Johnny Depp arrives at the premiere of "Alice Through the Looking Glass" at the El Capitan Theatre, in Los Angeles.

NEW YORK — Johnny Depp apologized Friday for joking about assassinating Donald Trump during an appearance at a large festival in Britain.

"When was the last time an actor assassinated a president?" Depp asked the crowd at Glastonbury Festival, in reference to the death of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth in 1865.

The 54-year-old Pirates of the Caribbean star then added: "I want to qualify, I am not an actor. I lie for a living. However, it has been awhile and maybe it is time."

Depp said in a statement Friday that he did not intend any malice and was trying to be amusing.

"I apologize for the bad joke I attempted last night in poor taste about President Trump," the statement said. "It did not come out as intended, and I intended no malice. I was only trying to amuse, not to harm anyone."

The Secret Service in a statement that it was "aware of the comments in question. For security reasons, we cannot discuss specifically nor in general terms the means and methods of how we perform our protective responsibilities."

Depp was at the festival Thursday to introduce a screening of his 2004 film, The Libertine.

He seemed to know his comments were going to get him into trouble, prefacing his remarks with, "By the way, this is going to be in the press. It will be horrible." Depp's remarks came eight days after a gunman opened fire on Republican lawmakers as they practiced for a charity baseball game.

Depp's remarks come weeks after The Public Theater in New York was criticized for its production of Julius Caesar that portrayed a Trump-like dictator in a business suit with a long tie who gets knifed to death onstage. The theater said it never advocates violence as a solution to political problems.

The show followed condemnation for comedian Kathy Griffin, who lost her job co-hosting CNN's New Year's Eve special and had all her upcoming comedy shows canceled after posing for a photograph in which she gripped a likeness of the president's severed, bloody head. Pop star Madonna also was criticized for saying at a rally that she had thought "an awful lot about blowing up the White House."

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