A war raged in our streets - gun violence, the roll-back of Roe v. Far more legion was the army of regular folks appalled that we watched this at all. On the other side - well, what was the other side? A brave few voiced support for the Internet’s number-one villain, who dared make her bruises public (though the bruises were disputed), while most Heard supporters gathered in tucked-away corners to bond over the familiar sight of a powerful man playing the gentleman in public only to play the bully behind closed doors. On one side, a global army of Depp stans, the phrase itself like a new country, Deppistan, who saw this as the last great hope to save a man wronged by media overreach, an activism gone awry, and a woman far more cunning than coverage lead us to believe. It was televised, but more critically, it was online, every micro-moment metabolized in #lawtube commentaries and clever story reels and memes of smug reduction, an endless river of entertainment and opinion further splitting a country that had long been split. The verdict would be determined not by judge but by jury - of seven people, and also millions. It brought a defamation counter-suit from Heard, along with shocking new allegations that included sexual assault with a liquor bottle. After a judge ruled against him, The Sun celebrated their legal victory in a bold font: “Wife-beater Johnny Depp LOSES” read a headline. In 2020, Depp sued the British tabloid The Sun for calling him a “wife-beater,” and Heard was the star witness. Johnny Depp arrived each morning with his hair slicked back in a ponytail, a trim goatee, and though his suits were sharp, the tattoos and one dangly earring called to mind the dude running the vape store. More specifically it was about mutual abuse, if you believe such a thing exists, and I do, because I’ve seen it: between lovers, between fans and celebrities, between the media and the people who consume it.Īmber Heard arrived each morning in high-necked silk blouses and chic updos that called to mind Grace Kelly.
#Agony and ecstasy tattoo trial#
The trial was a study of abuse: physical, sexual, emotional, virtual. But even careful witnesses wouldn’t learn much about defamation over the next six weeks. The trial was about defamation, a legal gray zone where a person’s right to express an opinion clashes against another person’s right to protect their reputation. “A transformative moment for women” read the headline in the printed paper, if you remember those, but the online version pushed out the story with a swift uppercut: “I spoke up against sexual violence - and faced our culture’s wrath. In 2018, the paper published an op-ed that marked the inciting incident of this ordeal.
The location seemed random: an affluent suburb of our nation’s capital, but it happened to be where The Washington Post housed its internet servers. Amber Laura Heard began in a Fairfax County Courthouse.
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