The currently ongoing defamation lawsuit is a snowball rolling down the hill of social media memes, offensively hostile jokes, and undermining a massively sensitive subject. As Johnny Depp and Amber Heard battle it out in the court of law, it is more than apparent now that she has already lost in the court of public opinion. The testimonies of the defendant are being ridiculed and meme-ified. But more offensive is the fact that the onslaught of social media memes are sending those testimonies into a blackhole of laughable and dismissable trash. The same social media which has become so woke in the wake of the misogynistic past is acting out like a high school bully. As Amber Heard takes the stand yet again to testify against her former husband, Johnny Depp, more facts continue to come to light.
Amber Heard accuses Johnny Depp of sexual assault
In her May 5th testimony, Heard claimed that she was sexually assaulted with a wine bottle back in March 2015 when the couple were in Australia. The incident had reportedly occurred following one of Depp’s alcohol-fueled outrage provoked by jealousy and accusations that Amber Heard was having affairs with her co-stars, Heard claimed.
“At some point, he’s on top of me, screaming I f–king hate you […] he had me by the neck and was on top of me. […] I thought he was punching me. I felt this pressure on my pubic bone and I could feel his arm moving. It looked like he was punching me. I could just feel this pressure,” she said.
“I remember looking around the room, looking at all the broken bottles, broken glass and I remember not wanting to move because I didn’t know if it was broken, I didn’t know if the bottle that he had inside me was broken.”
The incident (alleged) has remained a central focal point of the whole Depp vs. Heard trial.
Amber Heard claims she and her daughter have received online death threats
“I am harassed, humiliated, threatened every single day. Even just walking into this courtroom. Sitting here in front of the world, having the worst parts of my life, things I lived through, used to humiliate me.”
The testimony of Amber Heard on May 26 yielded the experience of the actor as she faced the world in a post-courtroom-drama scenario. Access to a person in this digital era doesn’t stop once you’re out of the courtroom and beyond the reach of the public eye. Heard claims to be continued to be bullied and harassed. And when it comes to the humiliation, well, we all know where we stand on that front. Moreover, the actress has also claimed that her daughter is getting death threats too from the internet.
Related: Amber Heard Lawyers Are Doing Tremendously Well Despite Relentless Social Media Mockery
“Johnny threatened, promised, promised me that if I ever left him, that he would make me think of him every single day that I lived.” The previous sexual assault testimony of Heard’s was recounted and she said she hit him as an act of self-defense. “There are many times I had to use my body to defend myself, and that included slapping wherever I could,” Heard said.
“If it meant I could get away, absolutely, or the difference between a sore face and a broken nose… I tried to defend myself when I could, but it was after years of not defending myself.”
The Court of Public Opinion
The entire case has played out more obnoxiously than a David Fincher movie. The point of the trial which was to return some semblance of Depp’s lost reputation has instead bared more details to the public than was previously known. The jury will soon be out with their verdict but the damage has already been inflicted at the worst possible level.
Depp has sued Heard for $50 million for the Washington Post op-ed article in which she claimed to have been a victim of self-abuse. Heard is counter-suing for $100 million.
Related: Will Warner Brothers Keep Amber Heard in Aquaman Franchise if She Loses the Johnny Depp Trial
Whatever the outcome of this defamation trial, it’s pretty much sure that both the actors will be facing a tumultuous phase in their professional lives for years to come. With Disney and Warner Bros. having already dropped Johnny Depp from Pirates of the Caribbean and Fantastic Beasts, Amber Heard’s career doesn’t look illustrious either as the actor hasn’t landed any major role since the trial.
