‘I needed the work’: Johnny Depp makes surprise appearance at VMAs

Johnny Depp made a series of strange, surprise appearances at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards, with his face digitally projected on to the channel’s famous mascot, the Moon Man.

Floating above the stage in a projection, Depp delivered one-liners in between commercial breaks. “I needed the work,” he announced, as the annual ceremony opened.

It marks the latest appearance by the actor in an apparent comeback into the public sphere, after his victory in the multimillion dollar lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard.

In subsequent virtual appearances at the VMAs ceremony, Depp declared that he was available for “birthdays, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, weddings, wakes, anything you need … anything. “Oh, I’m also a dentist,” he added. “Hey VMAs, let’s get back to the fucking music, shall we?” he said in another appearance.

It was recently announced that Depp is set to direct his first feature film in 25 years with Modi, about the Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani.

The announcement came a week after Depp confirmed his first starring role since claiming victory in the legal battle in Fairfax County, Virginia, earlier this year: as King Louis XV in the French film Jeanne Du Barry.

Depp is also a musician, having formed the band Hollywood Vampires with Alice Cooper and Aerosmith’s Joe Perry in 2015. While awaiting the verdict in the trial, Depp made several appearances alongside musician Jeff Beck in the UK, at venues in London, Newcastle and Glasgow. The pair released an album in July.