Johnny Depp apologizes, says Trump assassination quip was 'bad joke'

Johnny Deppis apologizing for a "bad joke" aboutassassinating U.S. President Donald Trump during an appearance at the GlastonburyFestival in Britain.

"I apologize for the bad joke I attempted last night in poor taste about President Trump," the actor said in a statement to People on Friday.

"It did not come out as intended, and I intended no malice. I was only trying to amuse, not to harm anyone."

Deppsparked controversy on Thursday for jokingly asking the music festival crowd: 'When was the last time an actor assassinated a president?" in referenceto the death of Abraham Lincoln by actor John Wilkes Booth in 1865.

The 54-year-old Pirates of the Caribbeanstar then added: "I want to qualify, I am not an actor. I lie for a living. However, it has been a while and maybe it is time."

Johnny Depp jokes about assassinating a president

7 years ago

Duration 0:48

Remark made on stage during U.K. film festival

"President Trump has condemned violence in all forms and it's sad that others like Johnny Depp have not followed his lead," the White House said in a statement, as quoted by ABC News.

"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."

White House spokesperson Sean Spicer said Friday "the lack of outrage" over Depp's comments was "a little troubling."

"The president has made it clear that we should denounce violence in all of its forms. And if we are going to hold to that standard than we should agree that that standard be universally called out," he said.

The Secret Service in a statement said Friday it "is aware of the comments in question. For security reasons, we cannot discuss specifically nor in general terms the means and methods of how we perform our protective responsibilities."

Depp was at the festival on Thursday to introduce a screening of his 2004 film The Libertine.He played Trump last year in a Funny or Die video parody of the businessman's 1987 book, The Art of the Deal.

It's justthe latest example of artists using violent imagery when referencing the president.

Depp's remarks come weeks after The Public Theater in New York was criticized for its production of Julius Caesarthat portrayed a Trump-like dictator in a business suit with a long tie who gets knifed to death onstage. The theatre said it never advocates violence as a solution to political problems.

• 'Actually reading Julius Caesar might help:' sponsors blasted for pulled funding from Trumpian depiction

The show followed condemnation for comedian Kathy Griffin, who lost her job co-hosting CNN's New Year's Eve special and had all her upcoming comedy shows cancelled after posing for a photograph in which she gripped a likeness of the president's severed, bloody head.Pop star Madonna also was criticized for saying at a rally that she had thought "an awful lot about blowing up the White House."

• Secret Service investigating Kathy Griffin amid Trump image controversy, comic says

Musicians have also gone after the White House, with a Snoop Dogg video of him shooting a Trump-lookalike clown and Moby putting out a video in which Trump resembles a Nazi-like Iron Man who takes over the world with a missile-firing machine shaped like a swastika and dollar symbol.

Trump's election has not quieted many in the arts community who assailed the candidate, with Robert De Niro saying he'd "like to punch" Trump "in the face," Carly Simon repurposing her song You're So Vaininto an anti-Trump anthem and singer-rapper Will.i.am's damning video GRAB'm by the ....

Other presidents have found themselves the target of celebrity ire, including George W. Bush who was attacked by the Dixie Chicks and by Kanye West, who famously said Bush "doesn't care about black people."