The 54-year-old actor appeared at the world-famous music event’s new Cineramageddon tent to introduce a selection of movies, and while presenting his 2004 film ‘The Libertine’, he made a quip he knew would be controversial.
Referencing President Abraham Lincoln’s 1865 assassination at the hands of actor John Wilkes Booth, he said: “Can we bring Trump here? I think he needs help and there are a lot of wonderful dark, dark places he could go.
“It is just a question – I’m not insinuating anything. By the way, this is going to be in the press. It will be horrible. I like that you’re all part of it. But when was the last time an actor assassinated a president?
“I want to clarify, I’m not an actor. I lie for a living. However, it’s been a while and maybe it is time. Thank you so much for having me here.”
When Johnny went on to introduce his movie to the crowd in Somerset, South West England, which told the story of the second Earl of Rochester, a debauched poet, he hailed the film “beautiful, chaotic, madness”.
He said: “Thank you so much for having me here. This is beautiful, chaotic, madness … I made the film because I wanted to try to bring to England a great poet that they missed. They missed him because he was written off as a jokester, a hoaxer. This guy is one of the deepest poets.”
The ‘Dark Shadows’ star isn’t the only famous face to have caused controversy with their comments about the president.
Last month, comic Kathy Griffin suffered a huge backlash when a photo of her holding a severed head in the likeness of the former ‘Apprentice’ star appeared online.
She later apologised and said: “I’m a comic, I cross the line, I move the line and then I cross it. I went way too far…. I made a mistake and I was wrong.”