Johnny Depp Makes Surprise Appearance at 2022 MTV VMAs

Johnny Depp made a surprise appearance at the 2022 MTV VMAs Sunday night, nearly three months after the verdict in his defamation trial with ex-wife Amber Heard.

The actor, 59, appeared in a brief cameo toward the beginning of the show, with his face digitally superimposed into the helmet of a floating moonperson.

“And you know what? I needed the work,” Depp told the crowd at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. He appeared again as the show came back from commercial, quipping, “Hey VMAs, let’s get back to the f—ing music, shall we?”

The appearance comes months after a seven-person jury sided mostly with the actor, finding that Heard defamed Depp in her 2018 Washington Post op-ed about domestic violence, though she didn’t mention him by name. He was awarded more than $10 million in damages. Heard, meanwhile, won one of her three defamation countersuit claims and was awarded $2 million.

Judge Penney Azcarate denied Heard’s request for a mistrial, and after Heard officially appealed the verdict, Depp’s legal team announced that they would also be appealing her countersuit verdict.

Earlier in August, Depp’s upcoming return to acting was revealed when WhyNotProductions and France Télévisions shared the first look at his character King Louis XV in the period drama Jeanne du Barry. The film is directed by French director Maïwenn, who will also star. Filming for the production began last month in multiple locations in France, including Versailles and Paris.