Amber Heard names new dog after Australian deputy PM following clash over pet quarantine in 2015

Reactions to Heard’s social media post ranged from ‘ kinda hilarious’ to ‘f***ed up’

Actor Amber Heard and Australian deputy PM Barnaby Joyce

(Instagram/Getty)

Amber Heard has named her new dog after Australia’s deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce following a clash between the two over the country’s pet quarantine rules in May 2015.

On Sunday (26 December), Heard posted a picture with a large, white dog on social media with the caption: “Meet the newest member of the Heard family, Barnaby Joyce!”

Reactions to Heard’s social media post ranged from “kinda hilarious” to “f***ed up on several levels”.

In 2015, Heard and her then-husband Johnny Depp had been accused of violating Australia’s strict animal quarantine rules when they flew their two yorkshire terriers into the country on a private jet.

Joyce, then Australia’s agriculture minister, had threatened to euthanise Pistol and Boo if the dogs were not removed from the country within 48 hours.

“If you start letting movie stars — even though they’ve been the sexiest man alive twice — to come into our nation [with pets], then why don’t we just break laws for everybody?” he had asked at that time.

After Pistol and Boo were sent back to the US, Heard was charged with two counts of illegal importation and one count of producing a false document.

The charges were dropped after Heard and Depp released a bizarre apology video, pleading guilty to dog-smuggling. Heard was placed under a $1,000 good behaviour bond.

Joyce and several others had mocked the video, with many social media users likening it to a hostage video. “I don’t think he’ll [Depp] get an academy award for his performance... He looked like he was auditioning for The Godfather,” Joyce had said at the time.

Depp and Joyce have taken multiple swipes at each other in the aftermath of the incident, with the Pirates of the Caribbean actor saying the politician looked like he was “inbred with a tomato” during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2016. Depp said: “It’s not a criticism, I was a little worried… he might explode.”

Heard and Depp were formally divorced in 2017. Thirty-five-year-old Heard is now the owner of Pistol and Boo.