Florence Pugh's outspoken response to the Cornell Seven allegations has put a four-year-old celebrity receipt back into circulation. As her statement spread online, users resurfaced screenshots showing that the Little Women and Oppenheimer star liked a pro-Johnny Depp Instagram post following his 2022 defamation trial against Amber Heard.
Pugh spoke out on Sunday, 27 September, after a former Cornell University student accused seven men who were then members of the Chi Phi fraternity of drugging and sexually assaulting her in October 2024. Her comments quickly created a second conversation around her own social media history, with users split over whether the Depp like conflicts with her current advocacy or belongs to a separate debate entirely.
Florence Pugh Speaks Out on the Cornell Allegations
Pugh addressed men directly in her statement, writing: 'We need our men to be as horrified and as sickened as us.' She urged them to lead conversations about changing the 'allowance and complicity' surrounding sexual violence, later adding: 'There is no equality until we can say we feel safe.'
The woman identified as Jane Doe filed a civil complaint on 16 September, accusing seven former Cornell students of sexually assaulting her while she was incapacitated at the Chi Phi fraternity house. The allegations have not been proven in court, while Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten has reopened the criminal investigation and said his office will present evidence to a grand jury.
Pugh also challenged Instagram after her post was placed behind a sensitive-content warning for some users. Meta later removed the label following another review, while online discussion around the case increasingly began to intersect with Pugh's own history.
Her 2022 Johnny Depp Like Resurfaces
after amber heard testified that johnny depp raped her with a bottle florence pugh was on insgram liking johnny depp’s photos. https://t.co/MpxR0sE2YM pic.twitter.com/jivBzSV1Iy
— Devine🐈⬛ (@DivineFeminin33) September 28, 2026
The screenshot now circulating dates back to June 2022, following the verdict in Depp's Virginia defamation case against Heard. Photographer Greg Williams posted a portrait of the Pirates of the Caribbean actor with the caption '#youcantkeepagoodmandown', and Pugh was among the celebrity accounts that liked it.
The renewed attention has brought back many of the divisions that surrounded the Depp and Heard trial online. Some users have argued that Pugh's old Instagram activity is relevant to her current statements about sexual violence, while others insist that the Cornell allegations and the Depp-Heard case involve different circumstances and should not be treated as equivalent.
amber heard described being raped with a whisky bottle and you went and liked every single post of the man accused of that act. https://t.co/fVqVjflijZ
— julieta (@witchwitchh) September 29, 2026
The legal record also extends beyond the Virginia verdict that dominated social media in 2022. A jury found Heard liable on three defamation claims brought by Depp and found Depp liable, through his lawyer Adam Waldman, on one of Heard's counterclaims, while, in Depp's separate 2020 libel case against News Group Newspapers, the English High Court found 12 of 14 alleged assaults against Heard proved on the balance of probabilities.
Has Florence Pugh's Position Changed Since 2022?
What Pugh thinks about the Depp and Heard case today remains unknown. As of 29 September, she has not publicly explained the 2022 like or responded to its resurfacing, leaving no public statement showing whether her position has stayed the same, changed or was ever as firm as the Instagram interaction suggested.
Because individual cases are different. The problem with me too is that they treat every story and accusation as the exact same, without realizing that each accusation must be analyzed treated on its own terms and evaluated based on that scenario’s unique evidence
— Sahib Singh (@SahibSi10990984) September 29, 2026
Pugh has meanwhile remained publicly focused on Cornell, where the 2024 allegations are receiving renewed legal attention. The resurfaced Depp screenshot has created a parallel conversation around how much weight audiences should place on celebrity social media activity years after the fact.
