Johnny Depp Has Won in the Court of Public Opinion

There is nothing fun about domestic violence. There is nothing fun about sexual, emotional, or physical abuse. The #MeToo movement, like the George Floyd uprisings in the Summer of 2020, put power in the hands of victims of sexual abuse to finally be heard. It was no doubt a direct response to the election of Donald Trump in 2016, because the first stories of sexual harassment and abuse started back then. I participated in an article in the New York Times that preceded the Me Too movement in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein saga.

However, in both the Me Too movement and the Social Justice revolution of 2020, there came a time when the reckoning was weaponized. The Me Too movement became a tool of power for victims, mostly women, to accuse anyone of anything and be believed, no matter what. In fact, to not believe them was and is considered a moral crime. The idea that we must “believe all women” created an environment where due process and presumption of innocence vanished. In their place, instant guilt and punishment rendered, just by the accusation itself.

The first time I noticed something had gone very wrong with the Me Too movement was the forced resignation of then Senator Al Franken. I still have never gotten over it and it’s one of the reasons I am no longer a Democrat (I am a non-affiliated voter at the moment). Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders all joined in to push him out with no due process. I knew the accusations against him were lies and distortions. But it didn’t matter. He was now guilty in the court of public opinion.

I have put myself in the crosshairs of defending men who have been, I think, wrongly accused. Since the Franken accusations, I have regarded accusations against men at a time of weaponized power critically. I never simply believe women. Or anyone. When I am asked to “believe” something that comes way too close to organized religion. No thanks. I will listen and assess. But I will speak up if I find the hive mind on Twitter has it wrong or is enacting unfair punishment.

Anyone who knows me knows this about me. I hate bullies. I hate seeing people bullied. It is my one trigger. I will always defend people whom I believe are being attacked unfairly. Whether it’s Ansel Elgort or Joe Biden or Nate Parker or my own friends – no matter what I receive in exchange for doing that, keeping my head down and saying nothing isn’t my thing.

So why then, you might ask, am I not Team Amber Heard? She appears to be the center of a bullying swarm of online Johnny Depp fans. While I don’t condone bullying of any kind, what I see happening here is a pushback against the tide of the Me Too movement of “believe all women” more so than it being aimed directly at Heard. Don’t get me wrong, I have seen ugliness at play on social media where she is concerned, but I also see high minded journalists working in her defense, which has more power. I have been bullied more times than I can count and it sucks. This time, though, my concern is not Amber Heard but Johnny Depp, as so many of us have come to feel protective of him and want to see him clear his name against what are obviously false accusations.

The Amber Heard/Johnny Depp trial is Me Too’s own reckoning, or rather, those institutions and hive minds that punish people who are falsely accused. The agonizing think pieces that have bloomed in the wake of the trial — I can’t even bear to google them — are worse for the Me Too movement than even a verdict that sides with Depp. Because the whole world saw the trial they now can plainly see Heard was lying. That means that the activists are demanding allegiance to a concept that supports and defends liars. That means any time a woman accuses someone and everyone goes along with it, without due process, everyone’s credibility is out the window.

How can anyone ask the public to side with someone who so obviously is not telling the truth? How do I know she is not telling the truth? Because Johnny Depp’s lawyers have proven their case. It’s as simple as that. Camille Vasquez’s cross examination of Amber Heard the second time she took the stand was devastating to Heard. She never should have taken the stand that second time. The only reason she did it is because she always has to try to destroy Depp. He testified a second time and explained what this trial had done for him, so she had to take the stand a second time. But for her, she had to meet with Vasquez who was not holding back in her confrontation of Heard’s side of the story:

Heard seems to think, and why shouldn’t she think, that she can talk her way out of the mess she has made. She denies having assaulted her ex-wife when a police officer testified to having seen it with her own eyes. Heard then charged the officer with homophobia but unfortunately for Heard the officer was a lesbian. She and her friends testified that Johnny not only trashed the trailer in Hicksville but then digitally raped her that night. She didn’t expect the manager of the hotel to see the testimony and show up to correct the record. Heard then tries to call him a nobody coming out of the woodwork to be part of the trial.

She didn’t expect a reporter from TMZ to show up and testify that it was her team that dispatched TMZ to the courthouse and were instructed by her to pause when she comes outside, turn her head so they can get a picture of her ‘bruise’. Her lawyer accuses him of trying to be part of the trial too. Then, Vasquez shows a picture of Heard the very next day with no bruise on her face.

But most damning of all to Heard is herself. Her own recordings. There is never a minute she is in the courtroom or on the stand where she sounds like a victim of domestic violence. She is not afraid of Depp, her supposed abuser, and continues to insult him and criticize him while on the stand. Any victim of abuse knows you don’t do that.

Amber Heard: “That’s the difference between you and me. You’re a baby.”
Johnny Depp: “Because you start physical fights?”
Amber Heard: “You’re such a baby! Grow up, Johnny!”

Now, anyone in a relationship as she has described where she feared for her life (while giving him a giant hunting knife as a gift, um okay) and was hit for no reason when he was drunk would certainly not be calling him a “baby.” She punishes him for leaving fights. She belittles him for not staying and fighting with her. She seems to be encouraging him to get physical to prove his manhood.

The defamation case might side with Heard, which would create a full blown Amazing Amy. No reasonable person not awash in hysteria could believe Heard if they watched the trial. Sensible people will understand she is lying. But that might not have anything to do with whether she is guilty of defamation (she is). But what should not be happening is pressure by activists and the media to pressure people into “believing” Amber Heard. That puts their credibility on the line, as well as the Me Too movement’s credibility.

Heard is an exceptionally intelligent woman. She could have been anything. Acting might not be her strong suit but she could have been a doctor or a lawyer or a politician. She was gifted with beauty and fame. But beneath all of it she was broken, damaged and unable to manage her anger in a relationship with someone she loved very much. Abusive relationships require a perfect storm of two clashing personalities to come together and create such a dangerous dynamic. There isn’t a second during this trial that it isn’t abundantly clear who the abuser is.

I don’t know how she comes back from this, but I do know that there is still a significant force online and in media that will continue to defend her. I expect documentaries will be made, essays will be written. This is the rest of Amber Heard’s life. I hope for her it isn’t. I hope for her that she comes clean and is honest and takes whatever consequences come her way. Lies rot from the inside out. They destroy you. The truth, no matter how bad it is, will set you free.

The media and the blue-checks couldn’t understand why the trial had become what it has become on TikTok. You have to understand the nature of the app. If Twitter is all about swarming and condemning people, TikTok is about jumping on a trend. It is about uniting with users under a particular hashtag. It’s an entirely different experience than Twitter. It’s actually fun.

I made a compilation of just some of the videos that are flowing through the app in the past couple of days:

What we see with the massive support on TikTok is that a new hashtag has been born: #justiceforjohnnydepp. Sure, some of that is toxic bullying but most of it is loving support. People from all over the world of all different backgrounds and skin colors have united behind this one hashtag. There is healing in that too.

Hollywood, Twitter and everyone else in this country should become accustomed to the power of TikTok. People don’t just want entertainment or court trials or news stories. They watch other people watching them. I do think holding onto one’s critical thinking skills in the age of social media is paramount, and TikTok makes it extremely hard not to join in on something that has become such a massive cultural phenom as the Depp/Heard trial. You can’t avoid it on TikTok. It’s everywhere.

The trial was a welcome distraction at a time when our country and the world face one catastrophic tragedy after another. Watching other people watch a public trial is now the new normal. It is a new facet of entertainment Hollywood should get on top of now. TikTok has changed the game. It has upended the power of the blue-checks on Twitter and the high-minded media that feeds off of them. It is a glimpse into the actual minds and hearts of the general public, not an insulated, isolated utopian diorama.

Don’t judge people too harshly for enjoying this trial so much that many of us are feeling lost now that it has come to a close. What do we do now?