Johnny Depp To Get Lifetime Achievement Award, How Fair Is It?

Johnny Depp Donostia award: The internet was taken by storm when it was announced that Johnny Depp will be given a lifetime achievement honour, at Donostia Award at San Sebastian Festival. And with that, the debate over art being separate from the artist gets a new plug. Shocking? No. Unfortunate? Yes.

For people struggling to decide which side they want to be, here's what Johnny Depp's life as an artist and a controversial celebrity has been like recently:

The teen hero, the forever pirate, Edward Scissorhands, Willy Wonka and several other iconic roles played by Depp made us look at him like anyone would look at a shining star. He kept his fans entertained in theatres and made enough buzz to keep them entertained while reading tabloids. Most importantly, he gave his face, the one with sharp features and with a range of charming to scary, to evergreen characters.

However, the last decade has been difficult for the artist. Much of it has to do with his no-so-sorry face during his divorce trials, the picture of him lying intoxicated on a hotel bed and the fact that his ex-wife Amber Heard accused him of domestic abuse. The Sun newspaper of the UK literally called him a "wife-beater".

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's court case is going on. Both Heard and Depp have made serious allegations against each other and are continuing to do so. So how to decide if Depp is a wife-beater? Well, we don't get to decide that. There are courts of law to give out judgements like that.

When Depp filed a defamation suit against The Sun for alleging him to be a wife-beater, he lost the case. The Judge who gave the verdict said that there is much evidence to prove that Depp made his ex-wife 'fear for her life'. The Judge said, "Taking all the evidence together, I accept that she was the victim of sustained and multiple assaults by Mr Depp in Australia." Read more here.

Since we are still on the art separate from artist debate, Depp's art (in this case his movies) are not getting the lifetime achievement award. He is. If we are so hellbent on respecting the artistic works of rapists, molesters, sexual offenders and wife-beaters, why are we not separating the artist from it? Because we can't.

Art made by an abuser will always be art made by an abuser. When we shower awards on people like Depp, we negate the experiences of abuse survivors. Johnny Depp is cancelled and if an individual still wants to worship him, fine keep it to yourself. But giving him Spanish film festival's highest honour, calling him  "one of contemporary cinema's most talented and versatile actors"? What are we telling the survivors? How fair is it?

The views expressed are the author's own.