Precious and Fragile Things

[Big fat trigger warning]

Dear Johnny Depp,

No, no, no. Bad, actor! Bad, bad!

To quote you: "Why now? There's got to be money involved. Why now? He's been going there thirty years. He's not a predator. He's got a wife and kids. He's not out in the streets."

Why now? Off the top of my head I'd say it was because the man pled guilty to drugging and raping a thirteen year-old girl and then fled the country to live in his Swiss chalet while being free to make more films. Oh, right, boo-hoo he couldn't come to America and that's punishment enough.

Sexual predators do not wait in dark alleys for a victim to come along. Sexual predators can be anyone from any walk of life and they're able to get away with committing these crimes because people like you - the rich, (usually) male, and privileged - say things like "Oh, no, not him! He could never do something so horrible! He's not a predator!" And the predator doesn't even have to deny the allegations if they have enough money and/or talent. Just look at what Polanski himself said in a 1979 interview about his crime:

“If I had killed somebody, it wouldn’t have had so much appeal to the press, you see? But… f—ing, you see, and the young girls. Judges want to f— young girls. Juries want to f— young girls. Everyone wants to f— young girls!”

You see that, Mr. Depp? "Everyone wants to fuck young girls!" Do you not see how bold he is allowed to be, how he can fucking laugh about what he did? Do you see how non-chalant he is about it because, hey, everyone wants to bone little girls who can't so much as smoke a cigarette legally let alone consent to sex? Can you read those words - Polanski's own words - and say with a straight face this man is someone you'd allow around your own daughters? He can say these things and people like you and various other people with money and power say he's not a predator. For fuck's sake, man, if a confessed child rapist isn't a predator, then who the fuck is?

Roman Polanski drugged a thirteen year-old girl and then raped her orally, vaginally, and anally while ignoring her pleas of "No, stop!" He admitted to having done so in a court of law, and he was going to get what amounts to a slap on the wrist as punishment, and then he fled the country. I don't care if it was thirty years ago. If he were anyone else (without money and fame), no one would be raising such a fuss, but because he made a few films and was allowed to evade the law for three decades we should forgive his savagery? No, that's not how it works, nor is it how it should work.

Predators can come from anywhere precisely because we've made a society that writes off sexual violence as some sort of inconsequential crime. We permit them to thrive, and we'll even applaud them and support them through the most heinous of crimes. We'll deny to ourselves and to everyone that this man or that man could be a predator. We'll tell victims they're lying, or they asked for it. We'll even tell children as young as 12 years old that they didn't scream loud enough or fight off their attackers, and turn around and give our support to the predators.

According to the Rape Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), one out of every six American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime. One out of six. That's not a small number, Mr. Depp, and assault victims don't just drop from the sky. Their attackers have to come from somwhere, and most of them are repeat offenders. According to RAINN, only about 6% of rapists will ever spend a day in jail. Six lousy percent. That means Roman Polanski is but one drop of water in the sea of rape culture that you are helping to perpetuate by supporting him and others like him.

You, sir, are in my extremely humble opinion, a talented actor whose films I have enjoyed. However, being talented is no excuse not to educate yourself on the facts of the Polanski case, or of the much larger problem of rape and rape culture. Roman Polanski is a predator, and you are supporting him which means you are making it easier for predators - ones just like Polanski - to continue to have the ability to victimize children and women the world over. Your words carry weight, Mr. Depp, and as such you could have a powerful impact on many minds. Can you please make sure that impact is a postive one?

Signed,

A Former(?) Fan