Johnny Depp's presidential assassination joke is 'sad' says White House

Johnny Depp claims there was no malice behind his joke about actors assassinating presidents. The Pirates Of The Caribbean star was referring to a weak joke he made while at the Glastonbury Festival earlier this week.

"When was the last time an actor assassinated a president?" he said to the crowd gathered for the screening of The Libertine film at the Cineramageddon cinema on 22 June. He was making a reference to the infamous murder of President Abraham Lincoln by actor John Wilkes Booth in 1865.

While the crowd at the festival laughed at his comments, back in the US, the White House was not pleased with the idea of basing jokes on the killing of a president and released a statement on the same.

"President Trump has condemned violence in all forms, and it's sad that others like Johnny Depp have not followed his lead," deputy White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told CNN.

"I hope that some of Mr Depp's colleagues will speak out against this type of rhetoric as strongly as they would if his comments were directed to a Democrat elected official."

The 54-year-old also recognised the gravity of his comments, and issued a public apology via People magazine. "I apologize for the bad joke I attempted last night in poor taste about President Trump," he said. "It did not come out as intended, and I intended no malice. I was only trying to amuse, not to harm anyone."