JOHNNY DEPP PUNCHED ME HARD, SAYS FILM CREW MEMBER
Afilm crew member says in a lawsuit that Hollywood star Johnny Depp punched him on the Los Angeles sets of a movie about The Notorious B.I.G., the rapper who was killed in a drive-by shooting in 1997. The crew member adds that he was fired from the movie production when he refused to promise not to sue over the punching incident. The plaintiff, location manager Greg “Rocky” Brooks, is also suing the film’s director and producers for unspecified damages in the lawsuit filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
In the movie, City of Lies, set for a US release in September, Depp plays an LA police detective who for years investigated the rapper’s murder. Brooks has alleged that in April 2017, when the film was being shot under the title Labyrinth, in and around the Barclay Hotel in downtown LA, he informed the director Brad Furman that an upcoming take featuring Depp would have to be the last outdoor shot of the night because of legal permits.
The lawsuit says that Furman forced Brooks to go beyond his duties and tell Depp that shooting had to end. The former location manager says that he was seeking out the off-duty sheriff’s deputy serving as set security when the actor found him first.
Brooks says that Depp smelled of alcohol and appeared intoxicated as he shouted obscenities, and then he “angrily and forcefully” punched Brooks twice in the rib cage. Depp then allegedly yelled, “I will give you one hundred thousand dollars to punch me in the face right now!” at Brooks, before the actor’s bodyguards pulled him
away. AP