The most publicised trial in recent history has come to an end. A US jury has ruled in actor Johnny Depp’s favour in a defamation suit against his ex-wife, Amber Heard, for a 2018 op-ed in which Heard called herself a “public figure representing domestic abuse” — without naming Depp.
The jury found Heard had acted with “malice” against Depp, but also found Depp’s team defamed her when describing her account of abuse as “a hoax”. Heard was awarded US$2 million and Depp US$15 million, US$10 million in compensatory damages and US$5 million in punitive damages. The punitive damages amount was later reduced to US$350,000 by the judge, Virginia’s caps on damage amounts.
Millions tuned in to the seven-week trial — Discovery+ even had ads prompting viewers to stream “Johnny versus Amber” on its website — offering commentary and satire, picking apart the most minuscule details for entertainment. It’s been parodied on Saturday Night Live and by comedians, with comedian Chris Rock saying in a routine: “Believe all women … except Amber Heard”.
With so many watching, the trial is wrongly being used as a test case for the Me Too movement.
The court heard allegations of abuse committed by both Depp and Heard. Earlier, in 2020, Depp lost a defamation case in the UK against a newspaper that called him a “wife-beater”. A court upheld 12 of the 14 allegations of abuse by Heard, including vile and abusive messages. In this trial, recordings showed Heard admitting to hitting Depp, with allegations she severed his finger after throwing a glass bottle at him.
In the court of public opinion, Depp has come out on top. Fans waited for him outside the courthouse, offering gifts and flowers; cyber bots spread rhetoric favourable to Depp and hashtags labelling Heard a “psychopath” trended.
But a case with allegations of brutal sexual violence and violent abuse from both sides is not something to be mocked and made into memes. The way the public has reacted to the trial, turning it into entertainment, does the entire movement a disservice. The trial is being used to support a litany of narratives — perhaps most worryingly for men’s rights activists.
Scores of them have offered live commentary on the trial, using it to push their narrative that women hate men and pretend to be victims for social and economic gain and that society is always on their side. The case is being used to discredit women and Depp has become a hero in the manosphere.
Women too have played into this narrative — victim-survivors have been comparing their own experiences with Heard’s to discredit her, focusing on claims Heard picked fights, stopped Depp from walking away from her, and once showed up at his accommodation after being granted a restraining order from him.
This too is damaging. A major flaw in the Me Too movement has been its focus on white victims’ experiences, when in reality women of colour and women from lower socio-economic backgrounds experience abuse at higher rates all over the world. These women have turned on Heard (pretty, rich, white) for being an imperfect victim. Her narrative and reactions were too hard to understand and her story didn’t stack up.
As Depp’s team alleged, if Heard did lie about the physical abuse she endured, it’s right for victim-survivors to be angry at her for discrediting the movement. But mocking her and comparing one person’s abuse with another’s is fundamentally flawed, and plays into the narrative that only victims with textbook-perfect examples of abuse are to be believed.
The fact of the matter is this: abuse is messy. It often happens behind closed doors, committed by intimate partners — making it difficult to prosecute. Victims often struggle to leave an abusive relationship due to family ties, a lack of resources or fear of punishment. Those who have been sexually abused often struggle with guilt and stigma, and it can take a long time to understand that abuse has occurred. But false allegations of sexual abuse are incredibly rare. And in most cases, men are the perpetrators and women are the victims.
As long as we have celebrities and litigious societies, there will always be high-profile defamation cases. Pinning the success or failure of the movement based on the outcome of a single case is a mistake, and no lines should be drawn under the Me Too movement based on the testimony of either.
In the court of public opinion only one gender is guilty until proven innocent.
Oh boo hoo.
Which one?
I mean it didn’t work out that way for lindy chamberlain
Kathleen folbigg
Had Amber Heard been victorious, Amber S, the ABC and the wider MeToo movement would have crowed long and loud that it vindicates the movement and the tactics. Michael Bradley would also have done a follow up to his recent article on men who fail with the defamn SLAPP tactic.
DV is abhorrent and I have no opinion of AHs claims, but this verdict and the public opinion around it is absolutely a push back on the tactics of the MeToo movement.
By that i mean the ‘oh but we never named him, wink wink’, the use of the media to litigate criminal claims in the court of public opinion, the ‘we must believe victims, so the presentation of evidence is optional’ tactics.
We all agree that AH is not a perfect victim, so doesnt that mean she also bears SOME responsibility and therefore SOME share of the consequences?
Hopefully this outcome leads the MeToo away from their more questionable tactics, and back to common ground with wider society. Common ground that I think will lead to actual change, rather than gender warfare.
I am interested in the use of these psychological assessments. Maybe that is the trade off we need to accept if we continue down this path of trial by media. If I accuse someone of something that is so hard to prove, and because we want to believe victims, then part of that proposition is an expectation that my psychology is assessed to ensure there is no motive for false accusation. Seems a plausible trade off, but with plenty of sloppy slope issues.
The psychological assessments of AH made her testimony not very credible, but she declared herself to be the face of DV which has given momentum to the Me Too mob, whether she has told the truth or not. They should be more careful imo.
All the more reason to have court appointed psychologists who are not in the pocket of one party or the other.
She did not declare herself to me the face of DV. She wrote one short opinion piece which would have gone totally under the radar if it weren’t for JD throwing a tantrum.
You obviously didn’t watch the trial. She absolutely declared herself the face of DV in tweets. And this ‘one short piece’ she wrote destroyed Depp’s career. Lie after lie was exposed, police reports that showed no signs of abuse, despite ‘serious abuse’ not one doctors report, her friends didn’t see effects of abuse, the only pictures of bruising was at the TRO hearing when she made sure the press was there and Depp was out of the country, and the day after she was out laughing and joking with friends without any bruises. Other images showed to be doctored. On and on. There’s a reason the jury including women were unanimous.
The worst aspect is that the women who ARE being abused are being dragged into a false storyline with a just verdict. Continuing to fight reality does nothing for those actual faceless powerless victims.
Amber has an expensive lifestyle, limited talent but significant motivation.
I read that article and it made me think that Depp was a scumbag. The finding of the trial was that she lied. This has nothing to do with whether she was a perfect victim. The implication is that she was the perpetrator and Depp was the victim. Given then nature of the allegations there is little room for ‘a both as bad as each other’ inbetween.
From what i saw, I was inclined to believe Depp’s account (althouhg some aspects were troubling, such as the mechanism of the finger injury). So now I think he probably isn’t a scumbag. But I’m still no longer comfrotable with him.
As for Heard, if the jury were right, she is an awful person. But it remains very troubling that maybe they got it wrong and she is the victim. The outpouring of hate towards her is dispicable.
In the end I found the whole thing very distressing as it reminded me of some personal experiences. It should never have been televised. Depp and his team have to bear a large share of the responsibilty for that.
You mean ‘common ground with men like me who think women should get back into their boxes and ask permission to speak’.
“We all agree that AH is not a perfect victim so doesn’t that mean she bears SOME responsibility and therefore SOME share of the consequences?’ I don’t believe I read that. I mean, I do, considering the source, but it is such an incredible statement that it is mind boggling that someone could actually make it. Do you think there is a ‘perfect victim’? Who gets to decide that? You and a jury of like minded men? If a sex worker gets murdered, do you post comments saying ‘well, she wasn’t a perfect victim, so she bears blame for the consequences’? DO YOU? Your statement is so disgusting that if you said it verbally in front of me I would have to be restrained from punching you.
Thanks for your usual vitriol.
Your statements are so disgusting, so very misogynist, that this is the least you deserve.
You got all that from five words.
I realise comprehension is difficult for you and your ilk.
All this from a Soros stooge. How lamentable.
Oh deary me. Anti Semitic as well as a misogynist. Are you trying to fill out some sort of ‘I’ve got all the nastiness’ card?
I never made one comment about this trivial trial and you call me misogynist. I’m all about you VJ.
Had Amber Heard been victorious, Amber S, the ABC and the wider MeToo movement would have crowed long and loud that it vindicates the movement and the tactics. Michael Bradley would also have done a follow up to his recent article on men who fail with the defamation SLAPP tactic.
Domestic violence is abhorrent and I have no opinion of AHs claim, but this is certainly a push back on the tactics of the MeToo movement
By that i mean the ‘oh but we never named him’, the use of the media to litigate criminal claims in the court of public opinion, the ‘we must believe victims, so the presentation of evidence is optional’.
We all agree that AH is not a perfect victim, so doesnt that mean she also bears SOME responsibility and therefore SOME share of the consequences?
Hopefully this outcome leads the MeToo away from their more questionable tactics, and back to common ground with wider society. Common ground that I think will lead to actual change, rather than gender warfare.
This is a bad case that would have been much better dealt with out of the courts.
However I spoke to a friend who’s been following this out of professional interest rather than celebrity gawking because they’re an expert witness psychologist. They told me that Herd’s psychological testimony had a great deal in common with some sham assessments he’s been dealing with as an expert witness for the prosecution in a criminal case. So his conclusion is that in this case the correct verdict was reached. He suspects in the British case, the verdict was reached by Murdoch or his minders leaning on the judge in some way.
With all due respect your friend is either a fool or you made them up. Seriously, Murdoch or minders ‘leaning’ on a judge in a British case? If your friend exists it concerns me that they are allowed anywhere near a courtroom.
Not made up. If nothing else watch the last few days of testimony and closing arguments and you’ll see for your self. Interesting that not one person has come forward and said ‘me too’, in fact quite the opposite.
Legal bytes on YouTube covered every day with a panel of lawyers commenting on proceedings.
I’m talking about your friend, not the testimony. No psychologist worth the name would make that claim based on people’s presentation in court. If your friend does, they are extremely unprofessional. But I don’t believe you have such a friend. I think you made them up to be able to parrot your own beliefs.
You had a bad day today, never seen so many down votes. You just don’t get it.
Oh yes, I get it. Anyone who dares to speak out about this abuse is getting abused and down voted on many forums. Most of them have given up. This case has brought out the abusers, the misogynists, the little nasties who think they now have permission to broadcast their ignorant hatred and who love that they can abuse a woman and any women who don’t agree with them with impunity. It’s a pleasure to be downvoted by people like that. They disgust me.
Perhaps the downvotes are because your ravings are so monomaniacal, predictable and inimical to sane discussion?
I think you mean dr kd’s friend. I have no axe to grind here and just followed the case out of interest. I totally support the intent of the Me Too movement, but there was no ‘me too’ moment here. No other women came forward and you know they would have, given the notoriety of this case. On the contrary, the mother of his children and Kate Moss, both long standing relationships, affirmed the complete opposite.
Sorry, yes indeed.
Well I think he was overstaing it – I supect he meant “very likely” rathe than definitely, but i didn’t want to misquote. My friend went into some detail with me on the generalities of a different case and how easy it is to get the psychiatric assessment you want out and the commonalities between the two.
Not even Jesus had this much publicity at his trial.