Both involved abusive relationships and an ugly breakup. Both allowed the cameras to enter the track to document the saddest and most twisted moments. And in either case, everyone seemed to have a good catch.
Between the Ukrainian war, the battle for the right to abortion, and the latest wave of mass shootings in the United States, it was the segments of a wood-paneled courtroom in northern Virginia that seemed to captivate most. the audience, and sparked a litany of TikTok memes, a Saturday Night Live Sketch, and endless opinion pieces.
Part of that, of course, was the star power of Depp himself: a Hollywood celebrity that many had seen from his gallant years at 21 Jump Street to his change of hobby as Jack Sparrow in the Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
Part of that, too, was that a lot of people could relate to what they were seeing. They may have endured abusive relationships of their own or felt slandered by an ex. Or maybe they just had a horrible divorce and found themselves thinking about the inevitable: it could always be worse, right?
And part of that was also the fact that the trial gave the audience a strange view of the toxic soap opera of a celebrity couple who spent 15 months married, and every year trying to destroy each other.
Celebrity riots are intriguing at best, but this one had all the elements of the proverbial car accident. As horrible as it was, it was hard to look the other way.
Supporters of actor Johnny Depp are gathering outside the Fairfax County courthouse as a jury was due to hear the final arguments this month. Credit: AP
There were photos of excrement Depp claimed Heard placed in his bed as an act of revenge. There was an audio of Depp howling like a caged animal as he came down from a drug and alcohol cocktail on a flight from Boston to LA, after accusing Heard of having an affair with his co-star James Franco .
There was bloody evidence of a fight in Australia, in which Depp claimed that Heard had cut off his finger after a fight. And there was a horrible testimony from Heard about being sexually assaulted by Depp with a bottle of liquor during the same trip.
As a public figure, Depp faced a high bar to win his case, which focused on a 2018 Washington Post opinion piece written by Heard entitled: “I spoke out against sexual violence and confronted- “This is about to change.”
Although the article never mentioned Depp by name, he argued that he was indirectly referring to the allegations Heard made against him in 2016 when the couple divorced and he was granted a temporary removal order later. of appearing in court in California with a bruised face, alleging that Depp had thrown a phone at him.
Heard, in response, countered Depp’s claims for his former lawyer that he was engaging in an “abuse deception.” He argued that it was Depp’s own behavior, fueled by drugs and alcohol, that led to his death.
In the end, the Fairfax County Jury – where the Washington Post’s opinion articles are published – found it in his favor.
Although Heard received $ 2 million in damages for Depp’s claims, the seven-person jury ruled against her in all three Depp charges, finding that Heard had not only made false statements. and defamatory, but he had done so. so with “malice”: a higher threshold for cases involving public figures.
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Depp was eventually awarded $ 15 million, but the judge later reduced it to $ 10.35 million due to punitive damages limits under Virginia state law.
But after such a big trial, what happens next?
As for the legal process, Heard has already indicated that he will appeal the decision, and his lawyer Elaine Charlestone Bredehoft told CNN that Depp’s “wealth, power and fame” had made a “big difference” in the jury’s thought.
As for the media, jurists have warned that a dangerous precedent has been set, in which the American media can be successfully sued for an article, even if it does not name a person and talk about it in more generals.
And when it comes to gender-based violence and women’s rights in general, some fear the verdict could have gruesome implications for domestic abuse survivors, discouraging people from protesting.
Dr. Jessica Taylor, a psychologist, feminist author and executive director of VictimFocus, told The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald that “women are withdrawing from their cases, retracting their statements and are now afraid of being sued if they speak out. of their abuse or rape. ”
“The last six weeks of this hearing have been torture for thousands of women and girls subjected to gender-based violence,” he said.
“They’ve seen millions of observers, men and women, laugh as they examine everything, from how a victim looks, moves, speaks and cries … It became clear that the only winner here is Johnny Depp. If she won, she would be vindicated, and if she lost, she would be the victim of an unjust system full of toxic feminism.
“If she won, she would be hated and slandered. If she lost, she would be hated and slandered.”
Assistance is available from the National Counseling Service on Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence at 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732).
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