In a “disturbing” case of life imitating true-crime TV, Amber Heard supporters have alleged harassment and threats from Johnny Depp followers on social media.
Since April, the embattled ex-couple — who made headlines all the best way again in 2016 throughout their preliminary cut up — has divided tens of millions as a jury decides whether or not Heard, 36, had defamed Depp, 58, when she signed a 2018 op-ed within the Washington Submit, which appeared to accuse her former love of home abuse.
Depp is suing the actress for $50 million; Heard subsequently filed a $100 million countersuit.
Now, with each side having testified — though Heard’s protection stays ongoing — rapt viewers are publicly throwing their help behind one or the opposite utilizing the hashtags #IStandWithJohnnyDepp and #IStandWithAmberHeard.
And whereas one can’t but predict who will prevail in court docket, some imagine it’s Depp who’s profitable the social media marketing campaign, as tagged movies for the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star are at the moment pulling in 12 billion views on TikTok alone.
That vocal help has additionally reared its rude head within the hallowed authorized halls of Fairfax, Virginia, the place a gaggle of feminine followers has gathered for Depp, reported Legislation & Crime’s Jesse Weber through Mediaite. “It's majority girls,” Weber mentioned. “When Heard . . . was testifying, I overheard lots of people snickering, making snide feedback, and laughing . . . Actually, I noticed one of many court docket officers … telling them to settle down, to point out respect to the witness on the stand.”
Actually, “dangerous headlines” related to the “circus” of a trial reportedly prompted Heard to hearth her public relations agency halfway by means of the proceedings.
In the meantime, Heard followers — with TikTok views allegedly amounting to a relatively paltry 44 million — have allegedly endured “sexist” trolls on social media who search to silence her facet of the story, based on an Insider report.
One girl informed the outlet that she’d blocked 13,000 threatening Twitter customers for the reason that begin of the trial. One other reportedly fielded an onslaught of unwarranted violation experiences as indignant Depp followers sought to close down her opinion, urging her to “get off social media” and even hurt herself.
#IStandWithAmberHeard advocate Katie Diaz, who first voiced her help for the “Aquaman” alum on Could 4, claimed that she has since obtained tons of of “very disturbing” and threatening messages from strangers, hinting at a coordinated “assault on girls”
Whereas hashtags are historically used to spice up visibility for a selected trigger, Depp’s trolls have apparently co-opted the pattern in a marketing campaign to intimidate and undermine Heard supporters, based on Diaz and others who spoke to Insider. They recommended that “males’s rights activists” are behind all of it, presumably as a result of they might imagine that males can’t be victims of home abuse.
“None of us have mentioned that males can’t be victims,” Diaz reassured; nevertheless, “it’s nonetheless vastly males who're the abusers,” she added.
Whereas girls are reportedly extra usually victimized by males, critics have famous that almost all knowledge on intimate associate violence depends on self-reporting. And the stigma surrounding male victims of associate abuse could skew statistics.
A number of the girls informed Insider that the case between Depp and Heard is near their hearts, having comparable abuses in their very own lives. They’re involved that the damaging press surrounding Heard’s testimony is setting-back girls survivors of home abuse.
“All Amber’s strikes on the stand are being dissected, and the victim-blaming happening proper now implies that if she cries, she’s appearing, and if she doesn’t cry, then she wasn’t abused,” mentioned Sara, who withheld her surname within the curiosity of privateness.
“It’s manner greater than simply Johnny Depp and Amber Heard,” she mentioned.
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