Depp: Australia's Deputy PM Looks 'Inbred With a Tomato'

Australia's deputy prime minister says he's gotten into Johnny Depp's head like fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter after the Hollywood actor quipped that the ruddy-faced lawmaker appeared to be "inbred with a tomato." The exchange spanning half the globe is the latest in a war of words that started a year ago when Barnaby Joyce threatened to have Depp's pet dogs, Boo and Pistol, put down after they'd been illegally smuggled into Australia. "He looks somehow inbred with a tomato," Depp said of Joyce on Jimmy Kimmel Live! this week, per the AP. "It's not a criticism. No, I was a little worried. He might explode."

Joyce replied Wednesday by thanking Depp for the publicity he gave Australia's tough biosecurity laws but says he's moved on from the dispute. "I'm inside his head, I'm pulling little strings and pulling little levers. Long after I've forgotten about Mr. Depp, he's remembering me," he says. "I'm turning into his Hannibal Lecter." Depp's wife, Amber Heard, pleaded guilty last month to falsifying documents to conceal the pets. The couple taped a strange apology as part of a deal with prosecutors that allowed Heard to avoid a conviction, though Depp says he didn't watch it "because I didn't want to kill myself." (More Johnny Depp stories.)