Johnny Depp apologizes for bad U.S. President assassination joke

Johnny Depp has apologized for joking about assassinating a U.S. President.

The movie star stirred up controversy while introducing a screening of his film The Libertine at the Glastonbury festival in England on Thursday night (22Jun17), when he appeared to be having a dig at Donald Trump, who he portrayed in a FunnyOrDie comedy sketch last year (16).

He asked the crowd, "When was the last time an actor assassinated a president?" before joking that he wasn't referring to himself, adding, "I'm not an actor. I lie for a living."

His remarks made international news and prompted social media users and White House spokespeople to fire back, and shortly after he hit the Glastonbury main stage to perform with country veteran Kris Kristofferson on Friday afternoon, the Pirates of the Caribbean star decided an apology was in order.

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

A spokesman for the White House also released a statement, which read: "President Trump has condemned violence in all forms and it's sad that others like Johnny Depp have not followed his lead.

"I hope that some of Mr. Depp’s colleagues will speak out against this type of rhetoric."

Meanwhile Secret Service officials have confirmed they are "aware of the comments in question", adding, "For security reasons, we cannot discuss specifically nor in general terms the means and methods of how we perform our protective responsibilities."

As a result, it is not known if Depp will be investigated or reprimanded for his remarks.

Last month (May17), comedienne Kathy Griffin lost her job co-hosting CNN's New Year's Eve special and had all her upcoming comedy shows canceled after posting footage of her holding the likeness of Trump's severed, bloody head online.

And Madonna was criticized for revealing she had thought about blowing up the White House following Trump's 2016 election victory during a speech she gave at the Women's March in Washington D.C. in January (17).