Tipsheet

Are These the Best Tweets About the Amber Heard vs. Johnny Depp Trial?

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  June 02, 2022 2:45 PM

Well, it’s over. The circus is over. Fairfax County was home to a celebrity trial for about six weeks between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. It was a tumultuous legal series where both sides presented evidence that the other was totally nuts. It was a defamation lawsuit over Heard’s 2018 op-ed in The Washington Post. Spencer wrote up the verdict which was read yesterday. In short, Heard owes millions after being found guilty of defamation:

Following a six week-long trial, a civil jury sided with Johnny Depp on Wednesday in his $50 million defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard. The judge read the jury's findings on three claims made by Heard in a 2018 op-ed. As the jury's verdict concluded, Depp proved all elements of defamation, Heard's statements were about Depp, those statements were false and defamatory, and "clear and convincing" evidence proved Heard acted with "real and actual malice." As a result, the jury found that Heard must pay Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages — but the judge lowered the punitive damages to just $350,000, per statute.

In Heard's $100 million counterclaim, the jury's findings were more mixed, only awarding $2 million in compensatory damages to Heard and zero dollars for punitive damages.

[…]

Depp's libel case against Heard centered on a 2018 op-ed she published in The Washington Post about speaking up against sexual violence. Though Depp is never mentioned by name in Heard's column, his legal team claimed that her words were clearly about a restraining order she sought against him two year before the op-ed was published.

For his part, Depp maintained his denial of ever striking Heard, and instead asserted that he was the victim of her aggression. Depp was also slapped with a $100 million counterclaim by Heard over claims Depp's former lawyer made that her charges of abuse were a hoax. Depp's team argued that Heard's accusations damaged his acting career and cost him roles. 

The trial saw days of testimony from both Heard and Depp, revealing some interesting claims about "mega-pints" of wine Depp had consumed and an incident in which Heard allegedly, literally, sh*t the bed. Heard claimed that "Johnny on speed is very different from Johnny on opiates. Johnny on opiates is very different from Adderall and cocaine Johnny, which is very different from Quaaludes Johnny," referring to the many substances and personalities Depp would take on during their relationship. Depp said Heard's allegations of uncontrolled drug abuse were greatly exaggerated.

What a s**t show. Literally. Yet, the social media reactions were something else. We still have people believing Heard, even though it’s quite clear Depp’s attorneys blew her case apart. One of the best reactions came from comedian, actor, and self-proclaimed hip hop MC Andy Milonakis. WAY back in the day, he had a show on MTV which was co-created by Jimmy Kimmel. It was a sketch show, which had some pretty wild guest appearances from the likes of Snoop Dogg, Fat Joe, Fergie, and Carson Daly. It ended in 2007. He was in the film Waiting…with pre-Deadpool Ryan Reynolds but mostly seems to be on Twitch and YouTube now. Still, he finds a way to a larger audience. With this Heard-Depp case, he did a series of hilarious takes that also earned him the ire of the ‘woke’ mob. He doesn’t care:

The first tweet is by far the best—and something I could totally see happening. Maybe. Anyways, back to your regular programming of a shrinking incoming, high inflation, skyrocketing gas prices, supply chain issues, more money to Ukraine, and mothers not being able to feed their babies.