Depp's pre-recorded skit involved him dressing up as MTV's iconic Moonman logo, with the 59-year-old's face apparently superimposed in the space suit.
He said in a voiceover: "I just want you guys to know that I'm available for birthdays, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, weddings, wakes, any old thing you need."
"And you know what? I needed the work."
His joke was taken as a reference to his claims he struggled to get jobs in Hollywood amid the fallout from his divorce from Heard.
In another of a few appearances made by Depp at the New Jersey awards, broadcast from the Prudential Center in Newark on Sunday, he said: "VMAs let's get back to the f****** music, shall we?"
Depp, who has won five MTV Movie Awards, sued Heard in February 2019 over her December 2018 op-ed in The Washington Post in which he said she labelled him a domestic abuser even though the article did not name him.
She countersued him in August 2020, with their defamation trial in Virginia ending with Depp being awarded $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages from Heard.
The punitive damages were later lowered to $350,000 due to a limit imposed by Virginia state law.
