Amber Heard "Dirty Carpet" Story

About

Amber Heard "Dirty Carpet" Story refers to a clip from the Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard trial where Heard describes the first time Depp allegedly hit her, mentioning how she fell to the "dirty carpet." The clip, from Heard's testimony on May 5th, 2022, became the subject of lip dubs on TikTok where users reenact the scene as described by Heard, attempting to point out inconsistencies and lies in the story. The trend, among others including the Johnny You Hit Me sound, was criticized by some for making a mockery of a serious trial and delegitimizing Heard, a potential abuse victim.

Origin

On May 4th, 2022, Amber Heard took the stand to testify against Johnny Depp in their defamation lawsuit. During the testimony, she described the first time Depp allegedly hit her. She described asking Depp what a tattoo on his arm says and he answered "wine-o," to which she laughed, resulting in Depp allegedly slapping her. He then allegedly slapped her a second and third time and she said, "I was just sitting there on this carpet looking at the dirty carpet wondering how I would up on this carpet and why I never noticed the carpet was so filthy before" (shown below).^[1]

[…] I lose my balance. At this point we're sitting next to each other on the edge of the couch, I was on the edge of the couch and i'm all of a sudden realizing that the worst thing has just happened to me that could possibly happen to you. I realized that I wish so much he had said he was joking, because it didn't hurt, didn't physically hurt me, I was just sitting there on this carpet, looking at the dirty carpet, wondering how I wound up on this carpet and why I was never… why I never noticed that the carpet was so filthy before, and i just didn't know what else to do. I didn't know what to say, I didn't know how to react.

Spread

On May 5th, 2022, TikToker^[2] @nanrodss uploaded the clip with the on-screen caption, "Amber forgetting her script, were you on the edge of the couch or were you on the carpet," inspiring over 6,000 videos in just under three weeks. The majority of the videos are lip dubs and skits reenacting the scene as described by Heard, pointing out the potential inconsistency where she says both "I was on the edge of the couch" followed by "I was just sitting there on this carpet" (notable examples shown below).

Around May 18th, singer Lance Bass posted a now-deleted video to the sound following the trend. It was reuploaded to YouTube on May 18th, gaining over 18,000 views in five days (shown below).

Criticism

Some publications criticized people taking part in the trend and related critical Amber Heard trends on TikTok due to the serious nature of the trial. On May 18th, 2022, Salon^[3] published an article titled "Lance Bass mocks Amber Heard's testimony in now-deleted post, jumping on a nasty TikTok trend," also criticizing Saturday Night Live for a skit about the trial.

Search Interest

External References