We’ve all always suspected that Johnny Depp’s portrayal of the pidgin English-speaking wildman Tonto in ‘The Lone Ranger’ might be more than a little racist, but now that we have an abundance of official images to go on, we can say conclusively that yep, this character is offensive as hell. Even better, Johnny-as-Tonto graces the cover of the new issue of Rolling Stone in full-on American Indian caricature mode. How how, paleface!
Exactly how cartoonish can this character get? Here are just some of the offenses of Johnny’s Tonto.
(I’m like 4% Cherokee, so I am an expert on American Indian culture.)