Washington Post Adds Editor's Note To Amber Heard Op-Ed After Defamation Verdict

An editor's note states that a court ruled the op-ed to be defamatory against Johnny Depp.

The piece was titled "I spoke up against sexual violence." Heard wrote that that has to change. She didn't mention her ex- husband by name. It was well known that her references to being abused were about their relationship.

A Virginia court ruled in favor of the actor on Wednesday, awarding him fifteen million dollars in damages, but the amount was capped at ten million dollars due to the state's law.

The verdict would be read at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse. In this photo provided by Evelyn Hockstein, a group of people pose for a picture.

The Post put an editor's note to the top of the op-ed detailing which statements had been found libelous.

Editor’s note, June 2, 2022: In 2019, Johnny Depp sued Amber Heard for defamation arising out of this 2018 op-ed. On June 1, 2022, following a trial in Fairfax County, Va. Circuit Court, a jury found Heard liable on three counts for the following statements, which Depp claimed were false and defamatory: (1) “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.” (2) “Then two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out.” (3) “I had the rare vantage point of seeing, in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse.” The jury separately found that Depp, through his lawyer Adam Waldman, defamed Heard in one of three counts in her countersuit.

Emily D. Baker told People that it was a good idea to add a note.

The case is so watched and commented on that the op-ed is still necessary. They put up the notice instead of taking the article down. They included the statements that were found to be libelous.

He lost in the United Kingdom when he sued the newspaper for calling him a wife beater. The judge found that most of the violent incidents Heard claimed wereproved to the civil standard were true.

She plans to appeal the verdict in the case.

The article was first published on HuffPost.

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