Actor Johnny Depp said his recently pulled Dior ad was not meant to be offensive, but showed “great respect” for Native Americans.
“There was never — and how could there be or how would there be — any dishonorable [intent],” Depp told the Hollywood Reporter on Sunday. “The film was made with a great respect for the indigenous people not just of North America but all over the world. It’s a pity that people jumped the gun and made these objections. However, their objections are their objections.”
Depp, 56, was in an ad by French luxury goods company Dior that featured an actor portraying a Native American in full headdress dancing while Depp wandered around a desert. The film was to promote a $150 cologne, but got pulled after critics said it was culturally insensitive.
The actor emphasized the clip was just a “teaser” and not representative of the full film.
“A teaser obviously is a very concentrated version of images and there were objections to the teaser of the small film. The film has never been seen,” he said.
Dior defended the ad saying they had “decided to contact Native American consultants” when they decided to “evoke Native American imagery and symbols in this new film.”
“This collaboration, which started at the very beginning of the project, led to a work process that was extremely demanding and specific. Ongoing communication about the project, and then on the film set, had a shared aim: moving away from clichés in order to avoid the cultural appropriation and subversion that so often taints images representing native peoples.”
In 2013, Depp played the character Tonto in The Lone Ranger.
