"… It included screenshots of texts to Amber from Stephen Deuters, Depp’s personal assistant, apologizing for his abuse. “When I told him he kicked you, he cried. It was disgusting, and he knows it.” Heard goes on to reference other violent incidents, all uncontested by Depp’s assistant.
"However, in late 2018 Depp’s lawyer Adam Waldman — famous for his shady links to Russian oligarchs and disinformation campaigns including the 2016 election — released a statement claiming Johnny Depp was a victim of domestic abuse: Depp would sue both Heard and The Sun in the US and UK respectively for defamatory statements. And in January 2020, an edited, out of context audio was strategically leaked by Waldman. Amber’s words were both misquoted and misconstrued as her taunting Johnny for being an abuse victim, when the correct transcript and full recording hears her sobbing over the phone, telling Depp she thought he was going to kill her and refuting Depp’s excuse for his violence — that it was a ‘fair fight’, so he was a victim too. Waldman was kicked off the US defamation case for leaking evidence, but the damage was done.
"Never mind that texts from Depp to actor Paul Bettany proved he already had sexually violent murder fantasies about Heard — drowning her and burning her alive and raping her burnt corpse. Never mind the video of Depp shouting, smashing glasses, kicking doors and slamming cabinets, something aggressive enough for a domestic violence charge in other US states. Never mind that Amber’s medical records noted her injuries and had documented the attacks. Never mind that Heard already had pictures of her bruises with confirmed metadata — but of course the narrative then changed from Photoshop to special effects makeup. Amber was now an abuser, and Johnny her victim.
"And then, the UK trial happened. Despite a bevy of scandalous headlines and hashtags aimed to humiliate Amber, a trial that was meant to be an easy win for Depp due to the UK’s strict libel laws declared him to be a wife-beater— with twelve separate allegations of abuse proven in the High Court of Justice. Many were confused, as the majority of the reporting had focused on Heard’s shortcomings and social media was dominated by Depp supporters.
"And now Johnny Depp has dragged his ex-wife to Virginia, a state known for its lawsuit tourism due to its weaker freedom of speech laws. (N.B: Abusers are known for using the courts to further retraumatize and financially abuse their victims.) Despite multiple setbacks in Depp’s presentation of evidence, including his claim that Heard cut off his finger off being debunked by his own texts to three different people followed by an audio of him admitting he did it, the internet still remains vastly pro-Depp.
“Search her name on social media and you will find endless quantities of misogynistic abuse and victim-blaming. Other victims are seeing this, and thinking no one will believe them either. Bear in mind how you speak about this trial, and Amber in general — every time you choose to call her a liar, or a gold-digger, or an abuser — a victim you know will quietly decide they cannot trust you.”
People need to stop being so fucking gullible