This Is Why “Schitt’s Creek’s” Emily Hampshire Is Being Called Out For Her Halloween Costume

This article mentions sexual assault.

One of the biggest news stories of 2022 was without a doubt Amber Heard and Johnny Depp’s trial, which took place between April and June of last year.

If you need reminding, Johnny filed a lawsuit after Amber wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post in 2018, where she said that she’d become a “public figure” for domestic abuse two years earlier.

While she didn’t mention Johnny by name, it was noted that this timeline aligned with when Amber filed for a divorce from the actor and obtained a temporary restraining order against him. In a statement issued at the time, Amber claimed that Johnny had been “verbally and physically abusive” toward her throughout their relationship.

And in 2020, Johnny lost a libel case against British tabloid the Sun when a judge ruled that there was enough evidence to support a reporter referring to him as a “wife beater” in an article.

But the 2022 trial, which took place in Virginia, had a completely different outcome, with a jury ruling in Johnny's favor and finding that Amber had libeled him when she wrote the op-ed following six weeks of distressing testimony.

This testimony included Amber’s claim that Johnny sexually assaulted her with a wine bottle in 2015. Becoming emotional as she provided graphic details to the court, Amber said that Johnny had grown violent after accusing her of sleeping with her costar Eddie Redmayne.

As the argument grew more volatile, Amber alleged that Johnny held a broken bottle up against her face and threatened to "carve" her, before ripping off her nightgown and leaving her naked.

Amber then claimed that she thought Johnny was punching her in the pubic bone because she felt pressure, but she then realized that he was penetrating her with a bottle.

"I didn't know if the bottle that he had inside me was broken," she said in court. “I didn’t feel pain. I didn't feel anything. I looked around and saw so much broken glass that I didn't know if he would know if it was broken or not."

Amber also said that after the assault she lost control of her bladder in the bathroom, and was left bleeding from her vagina.

Throughout the trial, Amber was vilified and ridiculed on social media, with some even making TikTok videos that poked fun at her incredibly serious allegations against Johnny.

The route to the courthouse was also lined with people holding up cruel signs about Amber and lauding Johnny, with Johnny’s fans able to enter the courtroom to watch the trial live.

Afterwards, Amber called the trial “the most humiliating and horrible thing” that she has ever been through, and said that the whole thing had made her feel “less than human.”

So it is understandable that people have been left horrified by Schitt’s Creek star Emily Hampshire’s decision to dress up as Johnny and Amber with a friend for Halloween this year — even posing with a wine bottle in an apparent nod to Amber’s disturbing allegations.

Emily found fame as beloved character Stevie in the popular sitcom, which aired between 2015 and 2020 and also starred Dan Levy, Eugene Levy, and Catherine O’Hara.

And on Tuesday, Emily shared a selection of photos of her controversial costume with her 807,000 Instagram followers alongside the simple caption: “🎃 Happy Halloween 🎃”

In the photos, Emily is dressed as Johnny and has even drawn some of his notable tattoos onto her body. A friend is dressed as Amber and is pulling an over-the-top distressed face in each of the pictures.

In the third photo, Emily is holding a bottle of wine while the friend sits beside her looking upset. Meanwhile, a fake turd is featured in all of the pictures — a reference to another highly publicized part of the trial, where Johnny claimed that Amber had defecated on his side of the bed in 2016 and tried to blame it on their dogs, Boo and Pistol.

In court last May, Amber vehemently denied Johnny’s claim and said that Boo has suffered with “bowel control issues” for her entire life and had eaten some of Johnny’s marijuana, triggering the accident.

Amber insisted in her testimony that she’d left the two dogs on the bed while she packed for Coachella, and did not notice that Boo had defecated. Still, Johnny’s testimony was widely shared by his fans, who ended up giving Amber the humiliating nickname “Amber Turd.”

Needless to say, Emily’s Halloween post quickly sparked backlash, and the actor deleted it within minutes — but not before disgusted followers had taken screenshots.

Drawing attention to Emily’s post on X, formerly known as Twitter, one person shared the photos alongside the caption: “It really is a special kind of depraved to keep the costumes going a full year and a half later. @emilyhampshire clearly felt the need to rise to the task.”

The tweet immediately gained traction, with one person retweeting and adding: “This is so beyond disappointing to see from @emilyhampshire. Words can’t articulate how let down and disgusted I feel.”

Instagram @emilyhampshire / Twitter @briartearose Twitter @yousaydontgo / Via Twitter: @yousaydontgo

The photos were also causing a stir on Reddit, where many specifically called out the addition of the wine bottle. One person wrote: “Wow. This is obviously in poor taste but, the wine bottle prop? Gross.”

“The bottle prop is…. not okay. None of it is, but that really got me as someone who has survived assault,” another agreed.

“Thinking this costume is funny is sick. Thinking this costume is funny in 2023 is psycho,” one more wrote. Someone else added: “This just looks so tacky, outdated, and attention-seeking, in addition to misogynistic and everything else. Gross. Just gross.”

“Ew so many things to choose from and she had to choose this,” another Redditor commented. While one more wrote: “Oh she’s trash for this. Is she living under a rock? Or is she just a nasty person? Maybe both. I didn’t think high profile celebrities would still be stupid enough to do this — how wrong I was.”

“Jesuuuus, what is wrong with people?” someone else asked. “Like you can be literally anything in the world (and beyond) on Halloween, and you chose this?? This is where you landed?”

Emily has not publicly acknowledged her deleted post, and BuzzFeed has contacted her rep for comment.

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673), which routes the caller to their nearest sexual assault service provider. You can also search for your local center here.

More on this

• Why The Depp v. Heard Verdict Is So BrutalScaachi Koul · June 1, 2022

• All Rise, The TikTok Courtroom Of Amber Heard And Johnny Depp Is Now In SessionIkran Dahir · April 29, 2022

• Amber Heard Said She Behaved In A “Horrible, Almost Unrecognizable” Way In Her Relationship With Johnny Depp And They Were “Awful To Each Other”Stephanie Soteriou · June 14, 2022

• Johnny Depp And Amber Heard’s Court Reporter Has Claimed That A “Few” Of The Jurors Fell Asleep During The TrialStephanie Soteriou · June 7, 2022