Some Stand With Amber Heard, More Stand With Johnny Depp, And The Memes Stand Out As Contentious Trial Continues

By Aidan Walker
2720 views
• Published 2 years ago

Published 2 years ago

Amber Heard took the stand this morning in the ongoing defamation trial between herself and her ex-husband Johnny Depp, and like every other development in the trial so far, her testimony sparked memes and disputes across social media.


Depp sued Heard for defamation over a Washington Post op-ed from 2018 (which reportedly cost him a role) that implies he abused her, saying that she was in fact the abuser. Both actors have each presented large volumes of evidence to support their claims.

Some commentators have suggested they both acted abusively and took part in physical fights with each other. Legally, it is unclear who might win the case — but in the court of public opinion, it largely appears Johnny Depp has already won in the eyes of many.


The hashtag "#IStandWithAmberHeard" trended on Twitter throughout the day, but the vast majority of comments and tweets were ironic, many also including "#IStandWithJohnnyDepp."


It was hard to find tweets actually supporting Heard today under the trending hashtag, as they were mostly drowned out by posts calling her supporters “clowns” in one way or another.


Users online have seized on several incidents in the trial that seem to show Heard acting dishonestly or not telling the truth — she has been accused of stealing a rape story from a former assistant, planting poop in Depp’s bed and copying dialogue from a movie for her testimony. All of these developments have been memed in their own way.


Some people expressed their genuine support for Heard, however, alleging that the media has sided with Depp because he is a man.


Supporters of Depp have accused Heard of manipulating the gender dynamics however, honing in on a recording played earlier in the trial of Heard telling Depp that if he accused her of abuse, no one would believe him because he was a man.


The discussion of abuse and domestic violence has also been mixed up with conversations about mental illness and substance abuse, conditions which psychologists hired by both Depp and Heard have said the other one suffers from.


The discourse around the trial has trended on social media for a while now, exasperating some and inspiring the take-industrial complex to produce think pieces. It’s clear the story of this case has become much bigger than Depp and Heard as internet users latch onto the story to argue difficult cultural issues, and the memes are certainly a part of that.


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