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Joking About Killing the President Is Dumb

It's not about the law, but what makes you sound like an idiot.
Photo by Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Hello and sorry, this is an opinion piece about Johnny Depp. The famous actor and alleged domestic abuser is in the news today because he was at the British music festival Glastonbury Thursday and made a joke about killing Donald Trump.

"When was the last time an actor assassinated a president? I want to clarify: I'm not an actor. I lie for a living. However, it's been awhile, and maybe it's time," is what Depp said. My opinion is that this is fucking stupid and makes Depp sound like a moron.

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This has nothing to do with the First Amendment. The law generally protects people who muse about violence like Depp did, because the Supreme Court ruled long ago that "political hyperbole" isn't the same thing as an actual threat. The law also generally protects people who say that Adolf Hitler was good or that they are aliens from Saturn. This isn't about the law but about what is dumb.

Other famous people besides Depp have made comments about killing Trump. The comedian Kathy Griffin held up a fake severed Trump head. Madonna gave a speech at the Women's March in January where she talked about blowing up the White House. None of these are actual threats, but rather expressions of frustration and anger.

It seems crazy that a reality TV guy basically known for being a rich jerk is now in charge of everything, I know. Maybe you get fired up by being in front of a crowd, maybe you have a couple of glasses of wine, maybe you just want to demonstrate how anti-Trump you really are—I get how someone might end up saying, Ha ha what if I just shot the president of the United States, like with a rifle or whatever?

But this will always, always make you look like an asshole. Ted Nugent looked like an asshole when he talked about political violence in 2012, saying, "If Barack Obama becomes the next president in November, again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year." Trump himself looked like an asshole during the campaign when he said of Hillary Clinton, "If she gets to pick… her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know."

If anyone takes you seriously when you talk about killing politicians, they'll assume you are unhinged. If they know you're joking, they might think you're downright childish. Depp's joke wasn't funny. Griffin's severed head was a toothless piece of sub-Banksy commentary that produced only fake outrage from right-wingers eager to paint Hollywood celebs as crazy.

There is a separate argument about portraying a presidential assassination in a narrative work of art, like the controversial staging of Julius Caesar where a Trump analogue got stabbed to death, or the bit in Kingsman where a president who looks like Barack Obama (spoiler) gets his head blown apart, or that time South Park raped and killed a (pre-presidential) Donald Trump. In those cases, there could be some very tedious and partisan discussions about which of those things is in bad taste or whatever. If you don't want to see those depictions of violence, don't watch those things. Who cares?

The point is jokes about killing the president are bad, in part because basically no one laughs at them. Be funnier. Thanks.

Follow Harry Cheadle on Twitter.