Johnny Depp Calls U.S. a 'Dumb Puppy'

By Stephen M. Silverman

Thursday September 04, 2003 01:00 PM EDT

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Going Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines one better, "Pirates of the Caribbean" star Johnny Depp has made some waves in an interview with the German magazine Stern, calling the United States a "dumb puppy" and a "broken toy."

At a concert in London in March, Maines mocked fellow Texan President Bush for his stance on the then-looming war in Iraq. But Depp, besides criticizing Bush, also took a swipe at America as a whole.

Depp, 40, tells Stern that he is happier living in the south of France with his wife, the French actress and singer Vanessa Paradis, and their two children, than he would be living stateside.

"America is dumb, it's like a dumb puppy that has big teeth that can bite and hurt you, aggressive," Depp, who is a native of Kentucky, is quoted as saying in Stern, according to Reuters.

"My daughter is four, my boy is one. I'd like them to see America as a toy, a broken toy. Investigate it a little, check it out, get this feeling and then get out," he said.

Depp also took on the Bush administration for its criticism of French opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

"I was ecstatic they re-named 'French Fries' as 'Freedom Fries,'" he told Stern. "Grown men and women in positions of power in the U.S. government showing themselves as idiots."

So far, there has been no reaction from the White House, which, according to Thursday's Washington Post, is now seeking between $60 billion and $70 billion to spend on the military occupation of Iraq.