Johnny Depp has cleared his Instagram grid and replaced it with three posts carrying a message for his nearly 30 million followers: Prepare to be humbugged.
As of July 23, the actor has wiped his previous posts, updated his profile picture, and transformed his account into an advertisement for Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol, his upcoming movie based on Charles Dickens’ holiday classic.
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Depp’s feed now contains only three branded images that combine to spell “BAH HUM BUG.” Read in order, the captions announce: “This November…” “Prepare to be…” and “Humbugged.” His bio has also been replaced with a reference to his character: “Before he was Scrooge, he was Ebenezer.”
Depp is playing Ebenezer Scrooge in the movie, which Paramount Pictures will release in theaters on Nov. 13. Fans immediately caught on; this is unusual for Depp, who posts sparingly and hasn’t changed his profile picture in years.
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Social media wipes have become a go-to move for celebrities announcing new projects. Taylor Swift famously cleared her accounts in 2017 before teasing Reputation with snake imagery, and musicians like Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa, Madonna, and Normani have all deployed similar resets before dropping new work. Olivia Rodrigo just pulled the same trick to promote her new album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, which dropped June 12, 2026.
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This strategy works especially well on Instagram, where you can transform an account with millions of followers into a clean advertising canvas. In Depp’s case, the three remaining images function as a miniature billboard — visitors need to scroll through all of them to grasp the full message.
Actors have occasionally used this tactic for movie promotion, too. Blake Lively wiped her Instagram posts and changed her bio to “What happened to Emily?” while promoting the 2018 thriller A Simple Favor.
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Depp’s version is less mysterious, but it’s still getting fans excited.
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Directed by X, Pearl, and MaXXXine filmmaker Ti West, Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol presents Dickens’ story as a supernatural ghost tale. Written by Nathaniel Halpern, the film is produced by Emma Watts, with West among its executive producers.
Depp plays Scrooge, a miserly businessman whose encounters with the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come force him to confront the life he has lived and fight for a second chance. The cast also includes Andrea Riseborough, Ian McKellen, Severance star Tramell Tillman, Rupert Grint, Daisy Ridley, and Sam Claflin.
Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol arrives in theaters on Nov. 13.
