Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd
Royal Courts of Justice
Court	High Court
Full case name	John Christopher Depp II v (1) News Group Newspapers Ltd, and (2) Dan Wootton
Decided	2 November 2020
Citation(s)	EWHC 2911 (QB)
Transcript(s)	BAILII
Case history
Prior action(s)	[2019] EWHC 1113 (QB) [2020] EWHC 505 (QB) [2020] EWHC 1237 (QB) [2020] EWHC 1689 (QB) [2020] EWHC 1734 (QB) (All interlocutory)
Court membership
Judge sitting	Mr Justice Nicol
Keywords
defamation libel assault and battery domestic violence

Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd [2020] EWHC 2911 (QB) was a defamation trial in England, initiated when actor Johnny Depp sued News Group Newspapers and executive editor Dan Wootton. Depp is also ^[when?] suing Amber Heard, his former wife and the principal defence witness, in a separate case in the United States.^[1] The action related to a 2018 article in The Sun newspaper describing Depp as a "wife-beater".^[2][3]

The case was seen as damaging Depp's career after widespread coverage of Depp's sworn testimony concerning the sordid details of his marriage.^[4]

History

Depp-Heard marriage

Johnny Depp (left) sued News Group Newspapers after The Sun published an article in 2018, which described him as a "wife-beater" due to allegations made by his former wife Amber Heard (right).

Actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard began a relationship in around 2012 and married in Los Angeles in February 2015.^[5] Heard filed for divorce from Depp on 23 May 2016, and obtained a temporary restraining order (TRO) against him, stating in her court declaration that he had been "verbally and physically abusive" throughout their relationship.^[6][7][8] In response, Depp alleged that she was "attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse."^[9][10] Heard testified about the abuse under oath at a divorce court deposition.^[8] Evidence of the alleged abuse from her court filings was also published in the media.^[10][9] A settlement was reached on 16 August 2016,^[11] and the divorce was finalized in January 2017.^[12] Heard dismissed the restraining order, and the former couple issued a joint statement saying that their "relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love. Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain. There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm."^[11] Depp paid Heard a settlement of US$7 million, which she pledged to donate to the American Civil Liberties Union^[13] and the Children's Hospital Los Angeles.^[14][15]

Libel suit against The Sun

On 27 April 2018, The Sun published an article by Dan Wootton on its website titled: "GONE POTTY How Can J K Rowling be "genuinely happy" casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?".^[16] The article commented on Depp's casting as Gellert Grindelwald, one of the main characters in Warner Bros. Fantastic Beasts franchise, based on the books and fantasy world created by author J.K. Rowling. The word 'wife beater' was removed from the headline when the article was published in the hard copy edition of the newspaper on 28 April, with the headline on the website also amended accordingly.^[16] On 1 June, Depp sued News Group Newspapers, the company publishing The Sun, and the newspaper's executive editor Dan Wootton for libel through his solicitors, Brown Rudnick LLP.^[16][17][18]

Legal claims

In their claim, Depp's lawyers stated that The Sun alleged that

"The Claimant was guilty, on overwhelming evidence, of serious domestic violence against his then wife, causing significant injury and leading to her fearing for her life, for which the Claimant was constrained to pay no less than £5 million to compensate her, and which resulted in him being subjected to a continuing restraining order; and for that reason is not fit to work in the film industry."^[16]

and as such "the publication of the [online and hard copy] articles has caused serious harm to his personal and professional reputation", which could be inferred from:

1. The seriousness of the allegations;
2. The huge extent of publication;
3. The effect of accusations of violence against women in the context of the widely known #Me Too/Time's Up movements;
4. The inclusion of quotes or purported quotes from women described as victims of Harvey Weinstein (the subject of high profile and serious criminal allegations);
5. The very likely intended effect of the articles was to finish the Claimant's career.^[16]

In addition, Depp claimed that he was entitled for damages as the article did not mention that:

1. The temporary restraining order was no longer in effect;
2. His denial of the allegations;
3. That the LAPD police officers who visited Depp and Heard's home in May 2016 after an alleged abusive incident concluded no crime had been committed.^[16]
4. That "the articles had misquoted and/or taken out of context remarks by Katherine Kendall, a #Me Too/Time's Up victim, and failed to correct the website article when Ms Kendall objected to being misquoted."^[16]

Defence

In their defence, NGN and Wootton relied on the defence of truth as stated in the Defamation Act 2013, stating that "the Claimant [Depp] beat his wife Amber Heard causing her to suffer significant injury and on occasion leading to her fearing for her life. [...] Throughout their relationship the Claimant was controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Ms Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs."^[16] As evidence of their claim, they presented the court with 14 different incidents in which they alleged Depp to have been abusive towards Heard.

Other pre-trial developments

Depp's legal team filed a Reply to the defence, in which they denied ever having abused Heard and alleged that she had abused him.^[16] In November 2018, NGN filed for a stay of the present action as their main witness, Amber Heard, would not be able to provide evidence due to a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that she had agreed to in the divorce settlement; this was rejected in January 2019.^[16] In March 2019, Depp sued Heard for defamation over an op-ed she wrote about her experiences of leaving an abusive relationship, which was published by The Washington Post in December 2018.^[19][20] The case is scheduled to go to trial in Fairfax County, Virginia in April 2022.^[21]

In February 2020, Depp changed his legal team to Schillings LLP, after his previous lawyers accidentally leaked 70,000 of his text messages to NGN's legal team.^[16][22] In March, the judge ruled that Heard could testify on some of the incidents in closed court, and ordered Depp to disclose documents from the Virginia case.^[23][24][16] In May, the judge ruled on a controversy between the parties that had arisen about Depp's team's wish to use witness statements from mechanic David Killacky and Heard's former assistant, Kate James, in their case. According to the ruling, Killacky's statement could not be used but James' could be.^[25][16] The following month, the defendants applied for the claim to be dismissed as Depp's team had not complied with the terms of the disclosure ruling given in March. In particular, Depp's team had not provided the defendants with text messages between Depp and his personal assistant, Nathan Holmes, in which he appeared to discuss obtaining illegal drugs.^[26][16] The judge ruled that Depp's team had breached the agreement, but declined to dismiss his claim. Later in the same month, Depp's team applied for third party disclosure from Heard, and in early July applied for her to be barred from the court room during the trial, except for when she would be appearing as a witness. Both of these applications were denied by the judge.^[16][27]

Trial

The trial was originally scheduled to be held in March 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic was postponed until 7–28 July 2020.^[28][29] Depp was represented by Eleanor Laws QC, David Sherborne and Kate Wilson (instructed by Schillings), whereas NGN was represented by Sasha Wass QC, Adam Wolanski QC and Clara Hamer (instructed by Simons Muirhead and Burton).^[28]

Main arguments: Depp

Depp's lawyers stated that the aim of The Sun's articles had been to convince their readers of Depp's guilt as well as to compare him to convicted abusers such as Harvey Weinstein, and to plea J.K. Rowling to drop Depp from the Fantastic Beasts film.^[30][31][32] They were basing the article on claims made by Heard. Depp's lawyers denied that he had ever been violent, jealous or controlling towards Heard.^[33] Depp's lawyers claimed that many of the incidents were on a "she said-he said" basis, and that NGN had only one other witness, Heard's sister, who had ever alleged to have witnessed Heard being abused by Depp.^[34] Although admitting that Depp used alcohol and drugs, they denied that this had any significance to the case.^[33][35] They argued that Heard could not have been abused by Depp because she had remained in the relationship, did not call for the police, and that the relationship was ended by Depp, not Heard.^[36] Furthermore, after filing for divorce and a temporary restraining order, she had still met once with Depp.^[37] As their main evidence of a hoax, they stated that elevator CCTV footage from Heard and Depp's apartment building did not show her with injuries, and that neither stylist Samantha McMillen (who dressed Heard for a December 2015 appearance in the The Late Late Show with James Corden, filmed a day after an alleged violent incident), members of the apartment building staff, nor the two LAPD officers who were called to Depp and Heard's apartment in May 2016, saw any physical injuries on Heard after alleged incidents.^[38] As for NGN's allegation that Heard and Depp referred to Depp's behavior while under the influence of alcohol or drugs as "the monster", using the term in their communication with each other, Depp's lawyers stated that this had been misinterpreted.^[33][39]

In addition to claiming that Heard had staged the incidents as a hoax, Depp's team also alleged that Heard had been the violent one in the relationship.^[33][32][40] As evidence, they presented two recordings of the couple's private discussions where Heard appeared to admit to having hit Depp and thrown items at him.^[41] The claim also relied on witness statements by three members of Depp's staff —Sean Bett, Kevin Murphy and Travis McGivern— who claimed to have witnessed Heard being verbally abusive towards Depp.^[42] McGivern also stated that he had seen Heard throw items at Depp in March 2015. Depp's team also claimed that the injury that Depp suffered to his finger in Australia in 2015 was caused by a bottle thrown by Heard. Furthermore, they claimed to have evidence that Heard was emotionally volatile, had had extramarital affairs, and that she was a habitual user of alcohol and drugs.^[33][43] They also claimed that she was an unreliable witness.^[44][45]

Main arguments: NGN

NGN stated that they had reported the truth in their articles.^[32][46][47] They alleged that Depp had been violent towards Heard on more than 13 occasions, and that he struggled with misogyny, jealousy and the need to control Heard.^{[48][32][46][48][49]} They stated that Depp had a severe substance abuse problem, which exacerbated his rage and caused him to often forget what he had done while under the influence.^{[49][32][46][48]} They alleged that "in periods of sobriety following Mr Depp's destructive rages, he recognised the problems he faced, apologised to Ms Heard and blamed what he described as "his illness". He referred to his drunken and violent persona as "the monster.""^[50][48] They stated that Heard's allegations were backed up by "witness testimony, medical evidence, photographs, video, audio recordings, digital evidence and Mr Depp's own texts" and that there were also many first-hand witnesses to his aggression.^[49][32][51] NGN claimed that some of his staff had witnessed the violence as demonstrated by their contemporaneous messages and statements, but had later changed their statements to be more favorable to Depp.^[52] NGN contradicted Depp's claim that Samantha McMillen did not see any injuries on Heard, pointing out that McMillen had also stated that Heard herself had commented on her injuries immediately after taping the Late Late Show.^[53] NGN also alleged that since Heard filed for divorce in 2016, Depp had stated to other people that he wanted to end her career and to publicly humiliate her, and that his team had conducted a "campaign of vilification" against her.^[54]

Furthermore, NGN stated that Depp's team had tried to hide text messages that would be damaging to his case, only disclosing them when ordered to do so by the judge in spring 2020, and that they had tried to prevent Heard from disclosing evidence –such as witness statements– from the Virginia case by threatening her with sanctions.^[55]

Particulars

Central to the case were the fourteen incidents in which NGN alleged Depp had been violent towards Heard. NGN claimed Depp had been under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs during all of them. The incidents were:^[56][57]

• Incidents #1 and #2, early 2013:^[56][58] NGN alleged that Depp hit and shoved Heard on at least two occasions when visiting her home, and damaged property that she had received from her ex-partner. Depp denied these claims.
• Incident #3, June 2013:^[56][59] NGN alleged that on a weekend trip to Hicksville, California, Depp had become angry after a perceived sexual advance made by a woman towards Heard. After an altercation with the woman, Depp and Heard returned to their rented trailer, where he threw glass at Heard and ripped her dress, as well as caused extensive damage to the trailer. Depp denied these claims, although he did admit to having told the woman off. He claimed that Heard had verbally abused him in their trailer, after which he had broken a light fixture when punching a wall. Heard also made further claims which were heard in closed court due to their nature and have not been publicly disclosed.
• Incident #4, May 2014:^[56][60] NGN claimed that during a private plane flight, Depp yelled at, threw objects at and kicked Heard so hard she fell. Depp denied this, stating that Heard had become verbally abusive, had to be restrained, and that he had only "playfully tapped" her backside.
• Incident #5, August 2014:^[56][61] NGN claimed that while detoxing on his private island in the Bahamas, Depp shoved and hit Heard. Depp denied this, instead claiming that Heard had withheld his detox medications.
• Incident #6, December 2014:^[56][62] NGN claimed that Depp had been violent to Heard but did not go into further details. Depp denied the claims.
• Incident #7, January 2015:^[56][63] NGN claimed that while they were staying at a hotel in Tokyo, Depp hit Heard, grabbed her by her hair, and shoved her to the floor, not allowing her to get back up. Depp denied the claims.
• Incident #8, March 2015:^[56][64] NGN alleged that Depp assaulted Heard, leaving her with "injuries including a broken lip, swollen nose, and cuts all over her body", and damaged a rented house they were staying in while he was filming the fifth installment of Pirates of the Caribbean in Australia. The incident took place over three days, during which Depp was high on drugs and accidentally severed one of his fingers. He then used the stub to write insults about Heard to the house's walls. Heard also stated that he put out a burning cigarette on his own cheek. Depp's version of the events was that Heard had been verbally abusive, causing him to break his sobriety. He expressly denied that he had used any other substances than alcohol during this incident. He alleged that Heard had thrown a bottle on him, causing the injury to his finger, and had put out a cigarette on his cheek. He admitted to having written the messages on the walls, but stated that he had done so due to shock. Heard also made further claims which were heard in closed court due to their nature and have not been publicly disclosed.
• Incident #9, March 2015:^[56][65] NGN alleged that once Depp and Heard were back at their apartment building in Los Angeles, there was an incident where Depp began to destroy Heard's possessions and hit her. Heard's sister, Whitney Henriquez, tried to intervene, and Depp then allegedly attacked her. Heard admitted to hitting Depp in order to protect her sister. Depp denied inflicting violence to Heard or Henriquez, but claimed that Heard hit her and threw items at her, and that this was witnessed by his nurse, Debbie Lloyd, and bodyguard, Travis McGivern.
• Incident #10, July 2015:^[56][66] NGN alleged that Depp hit, pushed and suffocated Heard during a train trip in south-east Asia. Depp denied this.
• Incident #11, November 2015:^[56][67] NGN claimed that Depp had pushed Heard and thrown items at her. Depp denied this took place.
• Incident #12, December 2015:^[56][68] NGN alleged that Depp assaulted Heard by hitting, shoving, head-butting, dragging her around their apartment by her hair, and suffocating her with a pillow. The following day, Heard was to appear in The Late Late Show with James Corden to promote a film. Depp denied that he had been violent, instead claiming that Heard had been violent towards him and had staged being the victim.
• Incident #13, April 2016:^[56][69] NGN alleged that Depp threw objects at Heard and shoved her several times at their LA apartment. Depp denied this, instead alleging that Heard had hit him.
• Incident #14, May 2016:^[56][70] NGN alleged that Depp assaulted Heard at their Los Angeles apartment by hitting, throwing her phone at her face, dragging her by her hair and by breaking items. Their neighbors and friends Elizabeth Marz, Raquel Pennington and Joshua Drew were present next door and intervened, with iO Tillett Wright, who had been on the phone with Heard, calling 911. Two LAPD officers attended the scene but did not report seeing injuries on Heard. Depp denied that he inflicted any violence on Heard, instead claiming that Heard and her friends had staged the incident.

Testimonies

Both Depp and Heard testified in the trial in person.^[28] In addition, testimony was heard from the following individuals, both in person and via a video link:

Verdict

On 2 November 2020, Mr Justice Nicol found that assaults were proven to the civil standard in 12 of the 14 incidents reported by NGN,^[56] and this with the overarching considerations was sufficient to show that The Sun's article was substantially accurate on the balance of probabilities.^[71] The verdict found that while Depp had been successful in proving that the articles had been damaging to his reputation, his claim of libel had failed as the articles had been "substantially true".^[72] Furthermore, the court found no evidence of Heard having created a hoax against Depp, stating that "if Ms Heard had been constructing a hoax there are various measures which she might have taken, but which she did not".^[72] The court accepted Heard's claim that her career and activism had been seriously damaged by the allegations made by Depp.^[72][73] The 129-page verdict examined all 14 incidents, both alone and in context of the entirety of the evidence presented.^[74]

Heard's reliability as a witness

The court did not accept Depp's claim that Heard was not a reliable witness.^[75] Depp alleged that when Heard's friend, British Savannah McMillan, had visited Heard in the US in 2014, she had in fact been working as Heard's assistant without a US working visa, and thus Heard had lied to the US Homeland Security. The court found that the only evidence supporting this was a statement from Heard's former assistant, Kate James, whose employment Heard had previously terminated in acrimonious circumstances, and which therefore could not be regarded as reliable.^[76] The other claims made by Depp's team were that Heard had tried to get Depp's assistant Kevin Murphy and Kate James to make or help in procuring false statements to help the couple to travel with their dogs on two occasions, one of which was the trip to Australia in 2015, when Heard was prosecuted for failing to properly declare the dogs.^[77] The court did not find that the evidence supported this. Furthermore, the verdict noted that Murphy had declared himself on Depp's side and against Heard, and that one of the dogs was in fact Depp's, but Heard had volunteered to take the blame to ensure that Depp did not get into trouble regarding his employment in Australia.

Depp also claimed that Heard's allegations had escalated since her filing for a TRO in 2016, and that she had then mentioned fewer incidents.^[78] The court countered that Heard had in fact been clear already in the TRO application that the violence had been constant throughout their relationship, and found it credible that she had been advised by her lawyer to only mention the most recent incidents. As for Depp's claim that Heard meeting with him after the TRO was a sign that she was not a victim of domestic violence, the court found that it was not unusual for a victim of domestic abuse to have contradictory feelings towards their abuser.^[79]

The verdict also found that the term 'the monster' was not invented by Heard but had been used in this context by Depp in discussions with other people about his problems with substance abuse and anger management issues.^[75]

Heard's admission to violence in recorded conversations

Depp claimed that Heard had been abusive to him, and that two audio records of private discussions between him and Heard proved it.^[80][81] In these tapes, Heard appeared to admit to having hit him and thrown items at him. The court found the violence discussed in the tapes had been in self-defense, which Heard had already admitted to in her witness statements.^[73] Furthermore, the verdict ruled that the private discussions could not be regarded as comparable to witness statements, made under oath and subject to cross-examination. The court also found that neither Depp nor Heard's alleged previous acts of violence outside their relationship were relevant to the case and concluded that neither had any previous convictions for violence.^[82]

Ruling on the incidents

For incident #1, the court found Heard's account of the events to be more likely,^[56] although noting that "seen in isolation, the evidence that Mr Depp assaulted Ms Heard on this occasion might not be sufficient. However, taken with the evidence as a whole, I find that it did occur."^[83] For Incident #2, the court also found in favor of the account presented by NGN, citing Depp's own admissions of alcohol and cocaine abuse under cross-examination, as well as his jealousy during this time, and contemporaneous communications between Depp, Heard and other parties.^[84][56] A photograph which Depp's lawyers claimed did not show Heard with injuries could not be proved to have been taken on that day.^[84] The court also found incident #3 in NGN's favor^[56] based on evidence of Depp's behavior related to substance abuse and anger issues in general, and on a witness statement by Heard's friend Kristina Sexton, who had been present during the trip to Hicksville. The court rejected the further allegations made in closed court.^[85]

The court ruled in NGN's favor on incident #4,^[56] stating that contemporaneous messages between Depp, Heard and other parties supported Heard's version of the events. Depp also admitted during cross-examination that he did not remember everything that had taken place, which was contrary to his earlier statements.^[86] The court ruled in favor of the account presented by NGN on incidents #5 and #7, but for incident #6, the court did not find that any physical violence had taken place as the defendants could not provide more specific information on the incident except a contemporaneous text message from Depp, in which he apologized to Heard for his behavior.^[87][56]

For incident #8, which took place over three days in Australia, the court found in favor of NGN's account.^[56][88] Heard's statement of the events —that Depp assaulted her multiple times after relapsing on illegal drugs and alcohol— was found to be supported by Depp's messages with his assistant Nathan Holmes, which showed that he had procured illegal drugs for his personal use.^[88] Furthermore, in the aftermath of the incident in Australia, Depp's doctor treating him for his addiction disorder resigned citing Depp's unwillingness to commit to sobriety.^[88] Photographs and a mobile phone recording made by Depp's staff in the aftermath of the incident were also found to support Heard's account, as did witness statements and evidence from Whitney Henriquez, Raquel Pennington, Erin Boerum, Ben King, Depp's former bodyguard Jerry Judge (now deceased), and Heard's therapist, Dr. Connell Cowan.^[88] The court did not accept Depp's claim that Heard had caused the injury to his finger, instead finding that Depp's own statements to his staff and friends indicated he had caused it himself.^[56][88] Although in general ruling in her favor, Heard's description of the events as comparable to a hostage situation was taken to be hyperbolic.^[88]

On incident #9, the court found in favor of NGN's account that Depp had attacked Heard and her sister, and accepted the Heard had acted violently only in defence of her sister.^[56][73] The court did not accept Depp's allegation that his bodyguard, Travis McGivern, had witnessed Heard throw items at him.^[89] The court found McGivern's account to be in contradiction with that given by the only independent witness at the scene, Depp's nurse Debbie Lloyd, who stated that both Depp and Heard were violent during that event, but did not note any items thrown.^[89] Furthermore, McGivern could not explain why he had changed his account significantly between his witness statement and his cross-examination in court, which reduced the weight that could be given to his statements.^[89]

The court ruled in NGN's favor on incident #10, but did not do so for incident #11, because Depp had not been cross-examined on it.^[56][90] For incident #12, the court found that the evidence was in favor of NGN.^[56][91] When cross-examined about the incident, Depp admitted that he had headbutted Heard, but claimed it had been an accident, which contradicted an earlier statement he had made on tape in 2016.^[91] Other evidence supporting Heard's version of the events were photographs of her injuries taken on the day of the assault, her consultations with three nurses on her injuries, as well as her contemporaneous communications with her publicist, agent and therapist.^[91] Statements given by her friends Raquel Pennington and Melanie Inglessis on witnessing her injuries on the day of the assault were also found to be credible.^[91] Inglessis was Heard's make-up artist for The Late Late Show, which took place the day after the incident, and testified that she had hidden the injuries to Heard's face with make-up, and that stylist Samantha McMillen did not see Heard before that.^[91] The court did not accept Depp's claim that Heard assaulted him and then staged the scene to look like she had been the victim.^[91] To support his allegations, Depp used a photograph of his face taken by his staff member Sean Bett, but the court did not find it to show the alleged injuries, other than a minor scratch.^[91]

For incident #13, the court again ruled in favor of NGN's account.^[56][92] They did not accept Depp's claim that Heard had hit him, as the metadata of the photograph that Sean Bett claimed was taken of the injuries to Depp's face immediately after the incident was found to have been taken in March 2015 (Incident #9), when Heard had herself admitted to using violence in defense of her sister.^[92] Bett could not provide an explanation for this discrepancy, which reduced the weight of his statement.^[92] Finally, for incident #14, the court ruled in favor of NGN,^[93] citing several credible contemporaneous witness statements and photographs of Heard's injuries.^[56][93] The statements made by the LAPD officers who attended the scene were not found to be unambiguous. Furthermore, the officers had significantly overestimated the time they spent on the scene, with the timestamps on the building's CCTV system demonstrating that they spent only 15 minutes there, instead of the about 30-60 minutes claimed by Officer Saenz.^[93] The court also found that the statements given by Depp's staff were not as credible given their reliance on him for employment, and that it was most likely that the building staff had not seen injuries on Heard as she wore make-up when out in public.^[93]

Appeal

Depp plans to appeal the verdict, with a representative of his law firm saying, "Most troubling is the judge's reliance on the testimony of Amber Heard, and corresponding disregard of the mountain of counter-evidence from police officers, medical practitioners, her own former assistant, other unchallenged witnesses and an array of documentary evidence which completely undermined the allegations, point by point. All of this was overlooked. The judgment is so flawed that it would be ridiculous for Mr Depp not to appeal this decision."^[94] The appeal was denied on 25 November 2020, with the judge arguing it had "no realistic prospect of success", though he did allow Depp's legal team to appeal directly to the Court of Appeals by 7 December 2020 if they wished to overturn his judgement.^[95][96] The appeal was later filed to the Court of Appeals, with Depp's lawyer claiming he was not given a fair trial and asking for the case to be retried.^[97] A hearing is currently scheduled for 18 March 2021.^[98][99]

Reactions to verdict

Following the publication of the verdict, NGN issued a statement saying: "The Sun has stood up and campaigned for the victims of domestic abuse for over 20 years. Domestic abuse victims must never be silenced, and we thank the judge for his careful consideration and thank Amber Heard for her courage in giving evidence to the court."^[71] Heard's lawyer, Elaine Charlson Bredehof, who represented her in the related defamation case in the US, stated that "For those of us present for the London high court trial, this decision and judgment are not a surprise. Very soon, we will be presenting even more voluminous evidence in the US. We are committed to obtaining justice for Amber Heard in the US court and defending Ms Heard’s right to free speech."^[71]

Lisa King of domestic violence charity Refuge said, "This is an important ruling and one which we hope sends a very powerful message: every single survivor of domestic abuse should be listened to and should be heard. No survivor should ever have her voice silenced. A common tactic used by perpetrators of domestic abuse is to repeatedly tell victims that no one will believe them and to use power and control to try and silence them. What we have seen today is that power, fame and financial resources cannot be used to silence women. That is a welcome message for survivors of domestic abuse around the world. We stand in solidarity with Amber Heard, who has shown immense bravery in speaking up and speaking out".^[71]

Labour MP Jess Phillips said Heard was subject to a "character assassination" in the media. Phillips stated that "abused women are not all one type of perfect picture of victimhood who would incite sympathy from everyone they met."^[100]

As a result of this verdict, Depp stepped down from his role as Gellert Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts film series at the request of Warner Bros. He was subsequently replaced by Mads Mikkelsen.^[101][102]

Role of social media

It has been reported that Heard was subject to anonymous death threats and harassment on social media.^[100] In August 2020, Heard filed a lawsuit against Depp claiming that he and his team "orchestrated a false and defamatory smear campaign" against her and that they allegedly "controlled and/or manipulated" social media accounts with the goal of targeting Heard.^[103]

Following the verdict, an old petition to bring back Depp to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise resurfaced, receiving over 300,000 signatures. Jessica Rawden of Cinema Blend stated that the petition was unviable as a new film in the series would be less financially viable even without the controversy surrounding Depp.^[104] Another petition for Depp to return in the third Fantastic Beasts film received over 150,000 signatures.^[105][106] A petition to remove Heard from the upcoming Aquaman sequel received a million signatures as well.^[107] Heard condemned the petition and called it a "paid campaign". In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, she stated: "Paid rumours and paid campaigns on social media don’t dictate [casting decisions] because they have no basis in reality. Only the fans actually made Aquaman and Aquaman 2 happen. I’m excited to get started next year".^[108][109]

References

External links

• Depp v News Group Newspapers on the website of the High Court of Justice
• Court documents and transcripts on the website of Nick Wallis