I didn't follow the defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.
The images from the courtroom began to show up on my social media feeds a few weeks ago. The platforms that fed me soothing cake decoration and Sopranos-themed therapy now served up regular dispatches from the proceedings, alluding to the mockery of Heard. During her testimony, Heard blows her nose and a TikTok accuses her of snorting cocaine. The gesture of adjusting a phone cord near an attorney is considered a chivalrous deed. The attorneys for Heard introduce a series of violent text messages between the couple, and a TikToker films herself absorbing the words.
She is countersuing, arguing that he defamed her when he accused her of domestic violence.
The O.J. Simpson murder trial ushered in a new era of tabloid news in which celebrity worship and domestic violence were fused into an endless national spectacle. Ito defended his decision to allow the trial to be televised. A journalist reporting on the trial might unconsciously skew its events through their own biases.
A camera in a courtroom is an invitation for the proceedings to be deliberately, even gleefully tailored to a viewer. TikTok and YouTube are built to manipulate raw visual materials in the service of a personality cult, harassment campaign or branding opportunity.
You might expect a defamation trial pitting one movie star against another to unleash a fire hose of debased meme in both directions, but that's not what's happening here. The online commentary about the trial quickly moved from a he- said she- said drama script to an internet-wide campaign against Heard. One of Hollywood's most legendary hunks, Johnny Depp has a large and devoted fan base. His campaign has attracted the support of men's rights activists, right-wing media figures, and the #boycottDisney campaign, which is eager to exploit his status as a fallen Disney franchise star, sex abuse conspiracists, and armchair true-crime.
Seemingly harmless YouTube channels and TikTok accounts dedicated to legal commentary or body-language analysis have become pro-Depp content. A husband-and- wife team of personal injury lawyers now spends its days posting trial-themed dance breaks and humoring their fans, while a TikToker who previously ranted almost exclusively about anime has racked up millions of views with videos of fake Heard text messages he splashes over a Disney Lance Bass and the Heard owl mascot have made fun of TikTok, a platform that rewards users for jumping unthinkingly on trends. If you are following the trial on social media, you are unlikely to see Heard's defense.
There is more than one camera in the Virginia courtroom. The pool camera system, which is operated by Court TV, films the proceedings from multiple angles, which continually shift to provide simultaneous shots of the witness stand and the judge, or the defendants and the gallery.
The amount of material recorded each day allows viewers to look at every inch of the courtroom with a conspiratorial zeal, as empty gestures and meaningless asides are whipped into dubious case clues, or built a charmingly unbothered bad-boy court. He is in court. He can't remember the names of his movies. Exhibits supporting Heard's claims are stripped of evidence and bandied about as a meme. The trial begins with fans joking about downing their breakfast with wine.
It is as if they have been cast in separate genres, with Heard being pegged as the histrionic villain from an erotic film and Depp playing the comedy hero. He is smirking constantly and she is permanently aggrieved. Her expression is proffered as evidence of her calculated heartlessness when she smiles. The cartoonish construction of the double standard is the point; many TikToks are soundtracked with the circuslike theme from Curb Your Enthusiasm.
If anyone else appears in court, they will be put into an internet folk hero or smeared as a liar. It has since been flattened into an all-purpose misogynistic slur and conspiratorially constructed, as a term for a racist white woman. Seemingly every woman involved in the case has a fascination with the actor. Dr. Shannon Curry, an expert witness called by the team of Johnny Depp, has been celebrated for her "exchanging glances" and even her husband, who she mentioned once delivered muffins.
In the courtroom. The defamation trial involving Johnny Depp and Amber Heard is in Virginia. Here is what we know about the case.
Ms. Heard wrote an op-ed. Mr. Depp's suit was filed after Ms. Heard wrote for The Washington Post that she was a public figure representing domestic abuse.
There are domestic abuse claims. In the 2020 trial, Ms. Heard accused her former husband of hitting her, head-butting her and throwing her to the ground. She is accused of punching, kicking, and throwing objects at him.
The internet has created a virtual sport out of the trial. Hundreds of thousands of viewers congregate on YouTube to watch livestreams hosted by the Law and Crime Network and type comments into a racing sidebar chat. Some people pay as much as $400 to have their comments highlighted and pinned to the top of the chat. One participant paid to say that Heard has a snake on her head, and another promoted his novelty song about Heard's legal team.
The immediacy of the livestream and its commentary gives viewers the illusion that they can somehow influence the outcome of the case, as if obsessive fan attention alone might crack the case. This week, a witness came forward after he posted a reply to a pro-Depp Twitter account.
Even if viewers can't influence the trial, they can influence public opinion. Once a fan fiction scenario gains enough traction to achieve escape velocity, it is elevated into mainstream tabloids, which are rife with reports of Depp's courtroom flirtations and epic witness-stand one-liners. Gossip journalists used to craft celebrity story lines themselves, but now they use social media to do so. Gossip sites are regurgitating banal celebrity internet activity as heartwarming Depp content, as a sign of support, as the magazine claimed.
Julia Fox became the focus of articles about how she was hypocritical and downright stupid when she supported Heard.
It is tempting to ignore all of this and not give the machine the attention it deserves. The nihilistic circus is a potentially radicalizing event, like the gaming community controversy that led to the internet-wide anti-feminist harassment campaign and a broader right-wing movement. The harassment campaign will continue when the trial ends this week with a support base and a field-tested harassment playbook. A new target is all it needs.
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