Johnny Depp: Cool or Fool?

xp
there is def a generational dynamic here: for me Jack Sparrow represented a sad decline from the actor I enjoyed when I was younger, not a beloved character from my childhood. i.e., another part of my confusion was why anyone was invested in this depressing addict who squandered his talent decades ago

that's definitely true (the generational dynamic).

I also wonder how many people are determined to make the (correct) point that men suffer abuse too, in order to appear more impartial in discussions, and this case looked like low-hanging fruit (see? I side with men sometime!)

god, what a terrible case to use as your anecdotal lede

two of my friends who are women who were battered by their spouses and still tortured by them even after divorce were pointing out that between the two of them, Heard was the one who looked like she was 'reacting to abuse', moreso than Depp.

yeah I read a first-person account of getting suckered by the soc med coverage of the trial that I can't find now, but the (female) writer admitted that the "men too" angle was important

Michael Hobbes (@rottenindenmark) on Twitter posted a piece about this.

By 2014, Heard was the only person in his life who told him the truth about his anger and his drug problem — a “lesbian camp counselor,” as he once memorably put it. He grew increasingly resentful that she treated him like an addict and an abuser, something his mind would not allow him to accept. His texts to her were apologetic, but his messages to everyone else were unrepentant.

267. Mr Depp said that Ms Heard behaved cruelly towards him at this time and withheld drugs from him that he was allowed or were intended to contribute to his recovery process. I have no doubt that the process of trying to rid himself of the addiction to Roxies was extremely stressful and painful for Mr Depp. However, I have seen notes made by Ms Lloyd. It is apparent from these that Ms Heard (referred to in the notes as ‘patient’s fiancée’) was keeping in close contact with Ms Lloyd and, after his arrival on the island, with Dr Kipper. There is no evidence that she did attempt to withhold from him any medication that he was supposed to have.

In his text to Paige Heard, Ms Heard’s mother, on 19th August 2014 Mr Depp said (see file 6/119/697.41),
‘I couldn’t have made it without her ... I would have gone for a swim and swallowed a big drink of ocean without her to be honest ... It was a hell of my own doing that your little girl walked through with me step by step ... I know you’re already proud of her, but if you’d seen her in action ... Amazing!!! It was an exercise of monumental patience and instinct. I wouldn’t be alive, sweetheart ... There were more than a few times when I thought it would be more simple to take that route. It was Amber and Amber only that got me through this ... And it was not easy ...’

268. On 17th August 2014 Ms Heard sent a text to Ms Lloyd and Dr Kipper which said (See file 6/119/f697.38),
‘Issue has arisen again. He took the meds about 30 mins ago (which seems to be the trend) as I reckon they haven’t kicked in yet – all of a sudden he’s flipping again. Just started screaming – he was so mad he pushed me and I asked him to get out. Don’t know what else to do. Sorry to keep at you guys.’

269. Mr Depp said that he had been in no condition to push or attack Ms Heard in any way. He said the text from Ms Heard could be explained as part of her ‘insurance policy’.

270. It was Mr Depp’s evidence that Ms Heard was withholding drugs that he was supposed to have or allowed to have, although he said that she did not do this all of the time and at other times she was very helpful.

It was a vicious cycle of Depp's PR push being picked up by the incel/"metoo has gone too far" crowd and once it was trending then every dumbass on social media had to pump out content to get on the trend and all of their initial info came via Depp's PR team and the incels and that getting filtered down to normal people who are unlikely to do any deeper research unless they (think they) have a good reason.

Michael hobbes was a guest on a podcast talking abt the whole Depp trial & the misinformation surrounding it
podcast is terribly named “Cancel Me Daddy” but he is great as always

https://www.readthepresentage.com/p/johnny-depp-amber-heard?s=r

I linked that a few posts ago.

oh sorry!

This is a good thread debunking bullshit Twitter discourse.

this is a classic entry in the fake expert twitter thread genre. absolutely full of shit from top to bottom. https://t.co/Q1LagyTWoY

— Law Boy, Esq. (@The_Law_Boy) June 3, 2022

it's amazing to me that this is being framed as "finally being a victory for victims of abuse" when in reality he was the one accused of abuse without being named in an Op-Ed and this entire case was "NUH UH, DIDN'T DO IT, btw u were actually the abuser".

like I get why asshole incels are cheering, but not people who are ostensibly reasonable human beings. I had to type "Depp" and "heard" and "#teamjohnny" (seriously that is fucked) into my FB Purity yesterday to stop seeing these posts.

I had only just seen this, but previously I’d seen Nicole Bedera (who studies and writes about sexual violence) tweeting about the phenomenon of female dv survivors supporting Depp and she wrote this piece about it before the verdict.

To understand this, it’s crucial to remember that survivors are not a monolith. Perpetrators do not select victims based on their political beliefs, and experiencing violence is not always a radicalizing event for women. In fact, one of the reasons violence is such a powerful tool in maintaining the patriarchy is that it reinforces traditional gender norms. This is especially true for women who already hold traditional gender values themselves.

In my own work, I have interviewed a lot of conservative survivors. They are quick to insist I should believe them, but not other victims, especially if those victims fail to meet white feminine ideals like chastity or subservience to men’s authority. Once, a conservative participant in my research emailed me a Jordan Peterson video and urged me to join in his argument that most survivors were promiscuous women who regretted participating in hook-up culture. To her, the injustice of her sexual assault wasn’t a loss of bodily autonomy but rather that a woman like her—a white conservative who had followed the rules—was the one violated. Disbelieving other victims did not conflict with her own narrative of victimization. In fact, she felt righteous in her anger that other women’s stories of sexual assault threatened her credibility.

Also saw a comment on ontd that I had been thinking about a lot:

andrea dworkin did not get everything right, but she was dead-on when she said "many women, i think, resist feminism because it is an agony to be fully conscious of the brutal misogyny which permeates culture, society, and all personal relationships”

This is one of the few sane discussion spaces on this trial I have seen. The “recommended” memes I see on Instagram that purport to prove Amber’s lies are simply ghoulish. To me it just looks like a person in distress people are being invited to laugh at. And the more I dig into this case, the clearer it becomes that the whole defamation suit was just another form of abuse—a violent drug addict blaming someone else for all of his problems instead of taking accountability, and vengefully deciding to make his ex the most hated woman in America.

I take two things away from it.

1.) This is a backlash to metoo. People were waiting for a “female abuser” to pounce on and demonize in order to discredit the narrative that male violence and harassment is a problem. Almost like a scapegoat. Her guilt or innocence was secondary to the function she served for people as a way to attack feminism.

2.) People are much worse judges of character than they think they are. People don’t find Amber Heard likable, she conforms to some archetype they have in their mind of the “scheming woman,” so they just adapt their understanding of the case to this impression without trying to figure out what happened. She “seems fake” and that is enough for people to decide she wasn’t a victim and should be punished for claiming to be.

3.) I hate what American society is or has become. There was a sadism to this trial that feels increasingly like a prevalent in American life. It was always there but there isn’t even a polite facade now. This poor woman was literally tortured by the American media. I was in Charleston this weekend and there were tons of novelty shops selling pro-Depp and anti-Heard t-shirts.

thank you gyac, that is a very good piece.

She was held to a way higher standard than Depp. Inconsistencies in her testimony were considered evidence that she was “bad,” fundamentally. Reports of drunken violence on Depp’s part dating back decades were simply ignored.

not to mention, people flocking to the 'this proves Amber was the abuser' narrative don't even understand that the trial was over fucking defamation, which, her losing at best means she fabricated some claims against him, not that she abused him, nor that he didn't abuse her.

(I really hope the appeal is successful, but not sure how likely that is? even if she does, though, the damage is already done and is going to be nigh impossible to reverse).

(don't take that to mean I didn't believe her claims, I mean we all know the UK bench trial went very differently)

Legally, defamation means she willfully misrepresented the truth. To prove she did that in the WaPo article, which doesn’t mention Depp by name but simply refers to the fact that she was a victim of domestic violence, Depp’s lawyers would have had to prove with a “preponderance of evidence” that he *never* abused Heard. They absolutely did not demonstrate this. Their whole strategy was designed to cast her as an abuser and a liar. Which was not even really relevant. If she sincerely believed herself to be abused, even if the record showed a more complicated picture of mutual abuse, that wouldn’t rise to the level of defamation because she would not have been willfully and maliciously distorting the facts.

the jury wasn't sequestered, were they? they probably arrived at their votes via TikTok

thanks for the link, gyac

Also the timeline shows a pretty plausible story of an alcoholic relapsing and lashing out violently. Over time, it seems she became enraged by dealing with this and that is where they were able to drag up evidence that made her look bad. But all of that is irrelevant. If she believed his drinking and violence precipitated the hell their marriage became when she wrote the op-ed, she wasn’t committing defamation, she was sharing her perspective. He could have his own version of events and that is fine but hers doesn’t become defamatory because he sees the breakdown of their marriage in different terms. The bar for defamation is supposed to be high.

Honestly this whole defamation trial just seemed like more abuse.

It’s also hard for me to disentangle the sadistic misogyny on display all over social media with the mass shootings that took place this week. It all forms a part of a really fucked up culture where people are seeking targets for their inarticulate rage.

Johnny Depp fans paid $3k to unseal the court documents just to get dirt on Amber, but ended up unintentionally exposing Depp and information he tried to keep private instead. A thread 🧵🪡 pic.twitter.com/NzH8eD1yJI

— chateau bunny (@cocainecross) July 30, 2022

An interesting (?) resolution to this case:
- settled by Heard (she was going through the appeal process with some very high profile 1st amendment lawyers and the case was thought to be strong)
- only has to pay $1m but is free to speak ???
- the resolution threads two themes that you see in a lot of cases like this: she was being put through the ringer financially and subject to such grotesque harassment that this is the result

Amber Heard settles with Johnny Depp and speaks out: "I will not be threatened, disheartened, or dissuaded by what happened from speaking the truth. No one can and no one will take that from me. My voice forever remains the most valuable asset I have." https://t.co/m6xTr4nwJA

— Variety (@Variety) December 19, 2022

My heart goes out to Amber Heard as she has made the decision to settle the defamation lawsuit against her by her abusive vindictive ex-husband, Johnny Depp. He and his team used misogyny, victim blaming, and lies to further abuse her on the stand. I hope she heals from this… pic.twitter.com/DdCKpQnVSu

— 𝝠sh (@starfallgoddess) December 19, 2022

Heartbreaking, the worst person you know, etc

The Sun is still calling him a violent wife-beater. #CannesYouNot pic.twitter.com/ePVgLq7CgP

— Xandra 39 (@carriecalista) May 19, 2023

fuck Johnny Depp

and Cannes for that matter.

hate teh stupid 'narrative' that won out thanks to Depp's abusive legal tactics