Former UCLA gymnast Katelyn Ohashi apologized on social media following an uproar over her choice of a Halloween costume.
According to Reddit, Ohashi dressed up as Mera, a character portrayed by Amber Heard in the movie Aquaman. A friend dressed as Jack Sparrow, played by Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean stood next to her for Instagram photos.
The caption of the photos read “rumor has it that Johnny Depp and Amber Heard were seen together.”
A second photo placed to the right of the first showed Ohashi dressed as Mera choking the Sparrow character. That caption read nvm, short for “never mind.”
Depp and Heard were in a highly publicized court battle over accusations by Heard that she was a victim of sexual violence. Depp sued for defamation and Heard eventually agreed to a $1 million settlement.
“She majored in gender studies too. I would’ve never expected to see something like this from her. Really disappointing,” said one Reddit user about the Ohashi post.
“It makes me sad that Katelyn thought this was an ok thing to do,” said another.
Ohashi issued an apology on X.
“As someone who has experienced and spoken out against abuse, I understand how wrong it was and expect more of myself. I hope you can accept my apology. I will do better.”
Support our June Membership Drive and receive member-only benefits. With less than three days left in our fundraising drive, we are running out of time. We are just 57% of our goal of $10,000 in new donations and monthly and annual donation pledges and 48% of our goal of gaining 25 new recurring donors by the end of the month. We need your help during these challenging times. Please help to ensure quality content in amplifying the voices of the AAPI community.
We are published by the non-profit Asian American Media Inc and supported by our readers along with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, AARP, Report for America/GroundTruth Project & Koo and Patricia Yuen of the Yuen Foundation.
You can make your tax-deductible donations here via credit card, debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and Venmo. Stock donations and donations via DAFs are also welcomed. Contact us at info @ asamnews dot com for more info.
