Emily Hampshire said "domestic abuse is never, ever funny"

A star of 'Schitt's Creek' has apologised following a backlash after photos of her at Halloween emerged online.

Emily Hampshire, who played Stevie in the hit sitcom, dressed as Johnny Depp for an unnamed event, while she was accompanied by a friend who was dressed as Amber Heard - and is seen beside a gruff-looking Hampshire with an upset expression on her face, holding a toy turd.

Hampshire, meanwhile, is holding a bottle of whiskey in one picture, with tattoos drawn on her hands and arm.

Depp and Heard, of course, had a contentious public courtroom battle that was loaded with accusations of domestic abuse.

One person wrote on X: "She should be embarrassed that the only people finding this funny and misogynistic white men. This is the last group of people we should aim to please."

Now, however, Hampshire has deleted the pics from her own account, and apologised profusely in a statement on Instagram that read: "I want to address what is one of the most thoughtless, insensitive, and ignorant things I’ve ever done. For Halloween, I stupidly thought it would be funny to dress as Johnny Depp and Amber Heard."

"I am deeply sorry and ashamed for putting something that awful out in the universe. Domestic abuse is never, ever funny. These are real issues with real people and I REALLY regret my actions. In the future I will do better. I’m so sorry."

Although she turned off the comments on the post, a fan wrote on another of her posts: "Mocking victims of abuse is just plain nasty. Have you forgotten that Amber is a real human, with a young child who may see these things some day?

I hope you received the attention you wanted for your costume, but deleting posts/comments doesn’t mean you won’t be held accountable."