Paul McCartney sparks debate after featuring a clip of Johnny Depp during his headline set at Glastonbury
- Paul McCartney performed at the Glastonbury Festival on Saturday in Somerset, England.
- McCartney featured a clip of Johnny Depp performing lyrics in sign language.
Paul McCartney played a clip of Johnny Depp while headlining a set at Glastonbury, a five-day performing arts festival in England.
McCartney, 80, performed a medley of his greatest hits when he took to the stage on Saturday and performed on Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage. Glastonbury first began in 1970 and currently takes place each year in Somerset.
At one point during the performance, McCartney transitioned to his 2012 song, "My Valentine," and shared music video clips on the jumbo screen. The clips featured Natalie Portman, 41, and Depp, 59, sharing McCartney's lyrics using sign language.
Representatives for McCartney did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
The performance was livestreamed on BBC and clips were later shared online, where fans expressed mixed feelings about McCartney including Depp.
"Johnny Depp on the pyramid stage onscreen behind Sir Paul McCartney! Two kings!!" one Twitter user wrote, while another added: "To see @PaulMcCartney showing support for Johnny Depp @glastonbury was brilliant. Well done to everyone involved."
While some fans praised McCartney for featuring Depp, others criticized the move following Depp's highly-publicized defamation case against Amber Heard.
"Deeply disappointed in both @PaulMcCartney and @glastonbury for the Johnny Depp video. Feels like it goes against everything Glastonbury stands for,"
"Paul McCartney was insane but I wish he didn't play a music video featuring Johnny depp during one of his songs," Another wrote:
MTV reported in April 2012 that Depp and Portman were criticized for using incorrect sign language in the music video. The British Deaf Association noted that both Portman and Depp signed the word "tampon" instead of "appear" in one line, while Depp signed the word "enemy" instead of "valentine" in another one.
"The sign for tampon does seem to come up from both Johnny and Natalie, which causes some confusion, especially as American and British sign languages are different," a spokesperson told MTV.
The Independent reported that McCartney and Depp are longtime friends, with McCartney using clips of Depp during his recent US tour.
In 2019, Depp filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard after claiming her 2018 Washington Post op-ed included domestic abuse accusations that hurt his career. Heard countersued for $100 million in January 2021. The six-week trial began in April 2022, and jurors reached a verdict in early June.
Jurors found both Depp and Heard liable for defamation. Depp was awarded $15 million in damages and Heard received $2 million.