The actor quickly replaced the image, writing: ‘Let’s try this again… congrats to my dear friend’
Johnny Depp was quick to celebrate Robert Downey Jr’s triumph at the Oscars on social media last night – but ended up having to remove an image which turned out to have been photoshopped.
The Rum Diary star, 60, used his official Instagram page to congratulate his longtime friend for winning the Best Supporting Actor award for his performance in Oppenheimer.
However, his initial post showed a photoshopped image of the pair.
In the actual photograph, which was taken at a Young Artists Unite event in Los Angeles in November 1988, Downey Jr was pictured alongside his then-girlfriend Sarah Jessica Parker. The doctored image has circulated for several years on fan sites.
The actor quickly replaced the image with a legitimate photograph of the pair deep in conversation together at the Golden Globes in 2011, writing as a caption: “Let’s try this again… congrats to my dear friend.”
Oppenheimer was the big winner at the 2024 Oscars, taking home Best Picture, Best Director for Christopher Nolan and Best Actor for Cillian Murphy.
The Hollywood awards show was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, who revealed afterwards that he was told not to read out Donald Trump’s criticism of the ceremony live on air.
Kimmel read aloud a statement posted by Trump on his social media site Truth Social in which the former US president attacked the presenter’s hosting abilities.
“Has there EVER been a WORSE HOST than Jimmy Kimmel at The Oscars,” Trump wrote. “His opening was that of a less than average person trying too hard to be something which he is not, and never can be…Also a really bad politically correct show tonight, and for years – Disjointed, boring, and very unfair. Why don’t they just give the Oscars to those that deserve them. Maybe that way their audience and TV ratings will come back from the depths. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
In response, Kimmel joked: “Blah, blah, blah … OK, now, see if you can guess which former president just posted that on Truth Social. Anyone? No? Well, thank you, President Trump. Thank you for watching, I’m surprised you’re still up – isn’t it past your jail time?”
Speaking to Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos immediately after the ceremony on their “Live” TV special, Kimmel said members of the production team had tried to discourage him from reading out the criticism.
“They’re like, ‘You’ve got a little bit of time’ and I was like, ‘I’m reading the Trump tweet,’ and they’re like, ‘No, no, don’t read that,’” Kimmel said with a laugh. “[I was like] ‘Yes I am.’”
