Amid legal brouhaha, Johnny Depp surprises fans on ‘Pirates of the … – Los Angeles Times

April 27, 2017, 9:36 a.m.

Johnny Deppreturned to his swashbuckling wayson Wednesday, makinga guest appearance on the Pirates of the Caribbeanrideat the Disneyland Resort, much to fans' delight.

The attention-averting move happened to come as his former business managers accused him this week of being a "habitual liar." More on that in a sec.

Though there are three animatronic Jack Sparrows on the ride, Depp's in-the-flesh appearance and running conversations with boat riders was a welcome surprise to fans who shared it on social media.

The "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales" star greeted riderson the attraction as his rum-swilling alter-ego, resplendent in Sparrow'seyeliner and dreadlocks, wielded a sword andrecited lines from the long-running movie franchise.

The 53-year-old's appearance came as theride celebrates its 50th anniversary andahead of the May 26 release date for the next "Pirates" installment. The new chapter sees the return of fan favorites Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley as Depp's ill-fortuned Sparrow pursues the legendary Trident of Poseidon in a race against bad guy Capt. Salazar, played by Javier Bardem.

Depp's outing also comes a day after hispublic battle with his former management company hit the radar again.

The actor and the Management Grouphave been embroiled in a disputeover his finances that resulted in the star filing a $25-million lawsuit in January alleging fraud, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and moreagainst his longtimebusiness managers. He claims they lost tens of millions of dollars over more than a decade.

The Management Group countersued in February, claiming thatDepp refused to reign in his "voracious spending."

Why didnt they drop me as a client if I was so out of control? Depp toldthe Wall Street Journal this week inhis first public comments on the matter since he filed the lawsuit.

On Tuesday, Management Group spokesman David Shane lobbed his rebuttal, claiming that the film star is a habitual liar who denies responsibility for his own outrageous conduct and has himself to blame for his financial woes.

Let's see how good Capt. Sparrow's sword is at deflecting bad publicity ...

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Amid legal brouhaha, Johnny Depp surprises fans on 'Pirates of the ... - Los Angeles Times