Explained: Johnny Depp-Amber Heard Defamation Case And Social Media's Role In Their Trial

Johnyy Depp claimed that his ex-wife defamed him in an op-ed column she authored in the Washington Post (December 2018) by displaying herself as "a public personality representing domestic abuse."

While the trial was essentially a defamation case over an opinion article ¡ª Depp sued Heard ¡ª at its heart is a major conflict. Johnny Depp allegedly assaulted Amber Heard. Heard, according to Depp, abused him. So, what exactly is the case? Let's take a closer look at one of the most high-profile celebrity trials in recent years.

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard¡¯s relationship?

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Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's loving relationship was short-lived in comparison to their long and complex court battles. Then 23, Heard and Depp, who was 46 at that time, met and started dating on the set of Depp's film The Rum Diary in 2009. They decided to marry in 2015, first legally in California and then ceremonially on Depp's personal island in the Bahamas.

The marriage failed almost as instantly as it began. Heard called it quits 15 months later, in May 2016, filing a case for divorce stating irresolvable differences. She obtained a restraining order against Depp after accusing him of beating up her with a phone.

She showed up in court weeks later with a wounded cheek, claiming in court documents that Depp was "physically and verbally aggressive" to her throughout their marital association.

In her charging documents, she explained 2 recent alleged assaults by Depp: first one on her birthday, where he allegedly threw a magnum-size champagne bottle at the door frame and then gripped her "by the hair and forcibly chucked me to the ground," the other a month after, when he reportedly grabbed her mobile phone, "wrapped up his arm like a baseball player and tosses the mobile phone at me striking my cheek and eye with extreme force,"

She also included photos of her bruised face in the case document.

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A police official, however, told People that an interrogation into the domestic violence incident radio transmission revealed that no violence had happened.

Depp denied the claims, asserting that Heard was "trying to secure a hasty economic resolution by accusing him of abusing behaviour."

Heard's original application for a temporary injunction against Depp was approved, however on the eve of their civil case to stretch the restraining action, Heard and Depp declared their settlement.

"Our relationship was deeply passionate and at occasions volatile, but have always been confined by love," they said in a joint statement.

"Neither party has made false claims in order to gain financial advantage. There was no intention of causing physical or emotional harm," they add.

Depp gave Heard 7 million dollars as part of the divorce settlement because the couple did not have a prenuptial agreement. Heard later confirmed that she would make a donation to the ACLU and Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, stating at the period that she wanted to help those who were "less capable of defending themselves."

What is the latest lawsuit about?

Heard authored an editorial article in The Washington Post in December 2018, at the "peak" of the #Metoo campaign, "Calling out social conventions that shore up domestic offenders and knock down one¡®s victims," according to The Hollywood Reporter. She repeatedly claimed her two years old allegation about being abused earlier in her career in the editorial, but she did not specifically name Depp.

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Despite not being personally called in the op-ed, Depp lodged a 50 million dollar defamation suit against Heard in Virginia over her text characterizations. The "op-ed relied on the core belief that Ms. Heard was really a domestic abuse survivor and that Depp perpetrated domestic violence against her," according to his team.

Depp was fired from his prominent role as Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series just 4 days post that article got published, and he eventually held Heard liable for 50 million dollars, accusing her of defaming him by presenting herself as an abused person. Heard has submitted a 100 million dollar countersuit, alleging that Depp "organised a harassment campaign against her."

According to Depp, the allegations against him have harmed both his movie career and his public image as a celebrity figure. Heard, on the other hand, holds that "every sentence in that op-ed is literally true" and that she "resolved to fight for domestic violence victims and to do everything in her power to fight back against the silencing of abuse victims."

Legal analysts accepted that shifting the court case to California, might have altered everything in this suit, and enabling Heard to take the edge of the province's defensive anti-SLAPP law might have effectively put the issue on hold from the beginning.

Anti-SLAPP Law

Anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) legislation enables a person facing a defamation suit to seek redress in the court for protection if it is claimed that the intention of the case is to demoralise and silence free expression which is in the interests of the public.

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If the speech is described as secured, the state law successfully moves the burden of evidence to the party bringing the court case to show to a judge that their court case has merit and would lead to a favourable ruling for them.

Both California and Virginia have anti-SLAPP laws, but Virginia's doesn't really enable defendants to activate the tool early in the litigation, whereas California allows defendants to register for the coverage instantly and the court to hear the case within 30 days.

According to Vulture, the comprehensive lawsuits in this scenario have backfired on Depp by exposing highly personal information of the successful actor's life.

How has the Internet reacted to this?

According to observers, one of the most absurd aspects of this suit has been the outpouring of online support for Depp. People were loudly announcing their support for Depp and their certainty that Heard is a dishonest person on Reddit, Twitter, and TikTok.

Reuters

According to reports, fans of Depp have influenced social networking sites, using some specific hashtags to express their side of support for the actor and to insult Heard. On TikTok, the most prevalent hashtag, #JusticeforJohnnyDepp, has garnered over 15 billion viewership. Meanwhile, the somewhat related hashtag #JusticeforAmberHeard only has 51 million views ¡ª but many of those video content are biased toward Heard, despite the hashtag. Many of the videos with these search terms are supercuts from court case footage that have been edited to make Heard's allegations appear baseless.

The hashtags were introduced into the court hearing when computer programmer and social networking forensic scientist Ron Schnell testified that somewhere between April 2020 and January 2021, there were over 2 million negative tweets directed at Heard, with one in every 4 of them referencing Depp lawyer Adam Waldman.

According to a vox report, part of the outrage may be credited to Depp's and Heard's respective memberships in some particularly toxic internet subgroups.

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