Johnny Depp loses libel case against The Sun

[RoyalCorgi]

I think this is probably a good thing for those of us who campaign against domestic violence:

www.theguardian.com/film/2020/nov/02/johnny-depp-loses-libel-case-against-sun-over-claims-he-beat-ex-wife-amber-heard

I wonder if J K Rowling will finally condemn him now? Her justification of his casting in Fantastic Beasts is less and less acceptable (although by no means the only problematic aspect of those films).

@Bluntness100

I’m also surprised at the responses. Like because her abuser said she did x y or z then she must have done those things and she deserved it.

Point to where any one has said she deserved it?

They are both horrible people. I don't feel any sympathy for either of them.

@workshy44

He was very badly advised - I cannot believe he took the case as libel is notoriously difficult to prove. I think his career is over now, he will get work but not the kind of paid work he was used to and he has a ridiculously extravagant lifestyle

Having read a lot about it I am surprised by the verdict

I don’t think he was badly advised. I have seen his interviews after this case came out. It is unbelievable what his generation of actors got away with! Imagine any of the millennial actors coming to an interview nearly dead on their feet with drugs and getting away with it! Don’t know what else they have been getting away with. Well, we do know a lot actually. From Harvey Weinstein to Kevin Spacey, we do know a lot now.

Absolutely agree @DidoLamenting.

I just went back and listened to the disgusting audio tapes of her mocking him, talking about hitting him, and saying nobody would believe him.

Don't feel sorry for her. But also not for him either.

Just because he is Johnny Depp (I never got him, my mum’s generation did so I don’t get the appeal of people like him or Sean Connery) doesn’t make him exempt from the rules that other, lesser human beings should follow

Please point to any post on here which has said his behaviour should be excused.

@SpeccyLime

I wonder if J K Rowling will finally condemn him now? Her justification of his casting in Fantastic Beasts is less and less acceptable (although by no means the only problematic aspect of those films).

Maybe, but probably not publicly. Which would be entirely understandable given the SM shitstorm she has been through!

I really dislike that even on a Feminism board, there are still people who excuse violence against women..

Agree.

To hear some people on here you'd think they knew Depp and Heard personally or lived next door to them.

@DidoLamenting

Just because he is Johnny Depp (I never got him, my mum’s generation did so I don’t get the appeal of people like him or Sean Connery) doesn’t make him exempt from the rules that other, lesser human beings should follow

Please point to any post on here which has said his behaviour should be excused.

All the comments saying they are as bad as each other are blatantly ignoring the fact that

1. Amber Heard is much much younger than him so a huge factor of manipulation and intimidation creeps in.
2. Depp has far more experience and exposure, not to mention money and connections, in Hollywood than she had.

These two factors are enough to make the ‘as bad as each other’ point invalid. This is what I mean by this being on relationships board: we will carefully think about how his age and fame plus connections come into play when he gets with a much younger woman. Here, we are minimising it by saying ‘as bad as each other’. We can’t compare apples with grapes, can we?
Also, he is definitely not badly advised. If he is arrogant enough to appear full of drugs in live shows, he is arrogant enough to think his past popularity will help him set pace for the case in the US by winning here. I have read the statement of one of his main advisers. Moron.

I really dislike that even on a Feminism board, there are still people who excuse violence against women..

Please point to any post which is doing this. You can't so please stop trotting this out.

The tide is changing fast in Hollywood.

This isn't Hollywood though. It's a court of law in England.

If Hollywood believes he can still make money for them, all of this will be forgotten pretty quickly.

@DidoLamenting

It's not unexpected. I don't know why he was advised to pursue it.

But as for "poor Amber" - they were as bad as each other.

There you go. "As bad as each other" excuses men's violence against women. Look up the ratio of men beating their partner to death and women beating their partner to death and then tell me "they are as bad as each other".

I do not know Amber Heard (I even had to Google how to spell her name) but he was found in court to have been violent to her. Can we not accept that is good for DV victims or does every DV case have to have Snow White as the victim to be acceptable?

And finally, I have not kept "trotting it out" - several posters quoted my post because they agreed with it.

But the judge disbelieves, on the balance of the evidence, several of Depp's allegations of her behaviour.

For instance the faeces in the bed - he did not accept Depp's allegation that she did it.

He found that Depp injured his own finger.

On the basis of nurse LLoyd's account, in addition to Amber and Whitney's testimonies, he found that Amber struck Depp in self-defence on the stairwell.

He found on balance, that Amber et al (Drew, Pennington) did not falsify evidence of damage to either Amber or her property at the dwelling.

He doubted the testimony of Depp's frat-house-enabling staff several times (Deuters, Bett, Judge - various other flunkies) and found in NGN's favour in 12 of the 14 sample allegations of violence to Amber.

He found against Depp's allegation of this all being an 'insurance policy' 'hoax' fabrication for monetary gain.

That's several planks of argument gone from the deck the good ship 'Amber is a gold-diggin' bish who got what she deserved'....

So, where does that leave 'the tab' on her 'behaviour'?

@IcedPurple

The tide is changing fast in Hollywood.

This isn't Hollywood though. It's a court of law in England.

If Hollywood believes he can still make money for them, all of this will be forgotten pretty quickly.

Overall, Hollywood seem to have moved on from all-acceptable to ‘we need an image that looks solid and pretty on social media’. this is improvement.

That's several planks of argument gone from the deck the good ship 'Amber is a gold-diggin' bish who got what she deserved'.... Not sure that has been said here.

So, where does that leave 'the tab' on her 'behaviour'? How crass!

@CuriousaboutSamphire

That's several planks of argument gone from the deck the good ship 'Amber is a gold-diggin' bish who got what she deserved'.... Not sure that has been said here.

So, where does that leave 'the tab' on her 'behaviour'? How crass!

@CuriousaboutSamphire You are being obtuse.

Wow it was a 129 page judgment. The judge was very thorough. And seemed thoroughly unimpressed with Depp. Depp is saying now he will appeal, so will try to take up more precious court hours. The judge is one of the biggest media law experts so good luck trying to find a point of law where he erred.

@Thewithesarehere I know...

@WeeBisom

Wow it was a 129 page judgment. The judge was very thorough. And seemed thoroughly unimpressed with Depp. Depp is saying now he will appeal, so will try to take up more precious court hours. The judge is one of the biggest media law experts so good luck trying to find a point of law where he erred.

Depp is of course going to say this. Based on statements from his side though, I think they will try to tone it down this time. I am quite hopeful though that the damage is done and this is going to create all sorts of headlines in the US now. He really should have seen this coming.

The judge is one of the biggest media law experts so good luck trying to find a point of law where he erred. Has anyone said he did?

Nope. The nearest is someone referring to somewhere else where comments were all in JDs favour.

People on twitter who are so invested in the god like qualities of JD and how he definitely did not do this like they know him personally. It's mad. A couple of my idols from when I was younger have turned out to be twats. It's not nice but hey ho - I revised my opinion. Depp comes across in interviews as a bit of an arse anyway so I don't find it that difficult to imagine him being a twat in his personal life.

• should say dicks not twats on the feminist board sorry!

I wonder if J K Rowling will finally condemn him now? Her justification of his casting in Fantastic Beasts is less and less acceptable (although by no means the only problematic aspect of those films)

Maybe, but probably not publicly. Which would be entirely understandable given the SM shitstorm she has been through!

I don't think she has to say anything if she doesn't want to but she certainly leaves herself open to justifiable criticisms of hypocrisy if she doesn't.

I think Depp would be unwise to appeal. He admitted headbutting her for a start, and once you've done that, you've more or less proven the Sun's allegation that you have committed domestic violence. Secondly, he came across really badly in court, admitting the excessive use of drugs and drink, losing control under the influence of both, sending messages to a friend that referred to Heard as "bitch" and "cunt" and so on. He destroyed his own reputation as a nice bloke (unless you're one of the lunatic fans for whom he can do no wrong). Would you really want an appeal judge to go through all that evidence again and come to the same conclusion?

Overall, Hollywood seem to have moved on from all-acceptable to ‘we need an image that looks solid and pretty on social media’.
this is improvement

I see very little evidence of that.

Johnny Depp has worked solidly in the 4 years since the domestic abuse allegations surfaced. If Hollywood believes he will still make money for them, he'll continue to get work.

Johnny Depp didn't lose the case because he is guilty of being a wife beater, he lost the case because the Sun published the article with the belief that the information was true and therefore no liable.
The case the case in America will determine if he was abusive

Exactly this.
I have no dog in this fight, being neutral on both of them. But I don't feel like rushing to condemn or convict him just yet.