Johnny Depp might be a favourite of Hollywood at the moment – not that this takes much – but there was a time just a few short years ago when this wasn’t so. Back in 2018, he took British newspaper The Sun to court for libel after they branded him a wife beater – detailing numerous allegations by ex-wife Amber Heard in their article.

The long-running case concluded in November 2020, when the court published its judgement that The Sun’s claims against him were “substantially true” and that 12 of the 14 alleged incidents against Heard were accurate. Depp’s appeal against this verdict wasn’t even permitted to take place, with the judge damningly stating it had “no real prospect of success”.

Why are we mentioning all this? Only because, according to our usual sources from Detroit, Derrick May is apparently feeling hard done by. One contacted Ears To The House yesterday, inadvertently confirming to us – yet again – that May reads this site. So what did they say?

“Derrick’s getting really annoyed with the criticism his tour has received. He’s also been disappointed that the dance press didn’t cover it. I don’t know the specifics, but they were apparently approached at some point about it. He’s been comparing himself to Johnny Depp, and thinks he’s been unfairly maligned. He thinks he’s been punished enough now and should be allowed to carry on with his career.”.

May’s defiance, of course, is hardly surprising – in the nearly three years since multiple allegations of sexual abuse were made against him, he has refused to comment – only issuing a very weak denial through his solicitor in 2020. And when he talks about Depp, Ears To The House can only assume he’s referring to the US defamation trial – where Depp won.

But he did not win his libel case on the subject in Britain. Still, May’s blinkered view isn’t news to us – as he’s reported to have said a few months ago, “it’s all positive things from now on”. You keep those rose-tinted glasses on if you like, Derrick…