July 19, 2025

Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard - "THE WIFE BEATER: How One Newspaper Article Triggered Two Continents of Legal War"

Show Notes
Transcript

How did 650 words in The Washington Post destroy Johnny Depp's $50 million Pirates franchise and launch the most expensive celebrity legal war in history? Reid Carter exposes the shocking aftermath of Amber Heard's domestic violence op-ed that never mentioned Depp's name but cost him everything. From Disney's brutal betrayal to a British judge who called him a "wife beater," discover how Depp's reputation crumbled across two continents. When Hollywood's biggest star fights a tabloid newspaper and loses, the only winners are the lawyers. Justice isn't always profitable, but it's absolutely devastating.

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WEBVTT

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Callarogashark Media, good morning, I'm read Carter, and welcome back

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to celebrity Trials.

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December eighteenth, twenty eighteen, Amber Heard publishes an op ed

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in The Washington Post about surviving domestic violence. She never

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mentions Johnny Depp by name, but those six hundred and

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fifty words would cost Depp millions of dollars, destroy his

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most famous film franchise, and launch legal battles on two

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continents that would consume both their lives. This is the

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story of how careful words can be more dangerous than

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direct accusations, how one newspaper article triggered a global legal war,

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and how Johnny Depp learned that sometimes fighting for your

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reputation can destroy it more effectively than staying silent. Because

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in the age of Google and social media, you don't

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have to name someone to ruin them. You just have

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to make sure everyone knows exactly who you're talking about.

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Let me read you the key passage from Amber Herd's

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Washington Post op ed, because these are the words that

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triggered everything that followed. Then two years ago, I became

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a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the

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full force of our culture's wrath for women who speak out.

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Notice what's brilliant about this sentence. It doesn't mention Johnny

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Depp anywhere, but anyone who had followed celebrity news knew

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exactly what she was referring to. Two years before. December

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twenty eighteen was twenty sixteen, the year she filed for

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divorce and made domestic violence allegations against her famous ex husband.

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The article was titled Amber Heard, I spoke up against

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sexual violence and faced our culture's wrath That has to change.

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It was published as part of the Post's coverage of

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domestic violence time to coincide with the American Civil Liberties

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Union's campaign on women's rights. Here's what made the op

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ed so long legally dangerous. Hurd managed to remind every

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one of her abuse allegations against Depp without technically violating

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their non disparagement agreement. She never named him, never repeated

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specific allegations, never directly accused him of anything new, but

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the implication was unmistakable. The reaction was swift and devastating.

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Within days, Disney announced that Johnny Depp would not be

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returning for the sixth Pirates of the Caribbean film. This

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wasn't just any movie role. Pirates was Depp's signature franchise,

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the series that had made him one of the highest

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paid actors in Hollywood. Captain Jack Sparrow was synonymous with

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Johnny Depp, and now Disney was cutting ties entirely. The

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financial impact was immediate and brutal. Depp's representatives claimed he

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was set to earn twenty two point five million dollars

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for the next Pirate's film, plus back end profits that

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could have doubled that amount in one stroke. The op

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ed had cost him what might have been a fifty

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million dollar pay day, but Disney he wasn't done. Warner

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Brothers also asked Depp to step down from his role

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as Gellert Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts franchise. Another major studio,

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another major franchise, another massive financial loss. Here's what's particularly

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ruthless about Hollywood's response. Neither Disney nor Warner Brothers waited

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for any legal determination about the truth of Herd's allegations.

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They didn't need a court to tell them that associating

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with someone labeled as a domestic abuser was bad for business.

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In the post Me Too era, the mere suggestion of

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abuse was enough to end careers. And here's where Depp

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made a decision that would define the rest of this saga.

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Instead of quietly accepting the career damage and moving on,

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he decided to fight back, not against Disney or Warner Brothers,

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who had actually cost him the money, against the woman

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who wrote an op ed that never mentioned his name.

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The legal strategy was risky, but potentially brilliant. If Depp

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could prove that Herd's op ed was defamatory, that it

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falsely implied he was a domestic abuser, and that she

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knew it was false when she wrote it, he could

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not only clear his name, but potentially recover massive damages.

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But there was one problem with this strategy. To win

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a defamation case, Depp would have to prove that he

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wasn't a domestic abuser, and amber Heard had evidence that

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suggested otherwise. Before Johnny Depp could sue Amber Heard in

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the United States, he had to deal with a more

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immediate threat to his reputation, The Sun newspaper in the

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United Kingdom. April twenty seventh, twenty eighteen, The Sun published

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an article by executive editor Dan Wooten with the headline

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gone potty? How can jk Rowling be genuinely happy casting

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wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?

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Wife beater? Two words that would define the next four

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years of Johnny Depp's life. The article was ostensibly about

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author J. K. Rowling's support for Depp's casting in the

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Harry Potters spinoff films, but it directly labeled Depp as

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someone who beats his wife. Unlike Herd's carefully worded off ed,

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this was a direct accusation that left no room for interpretation.

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Depp's decision to sue the Sun instead of waiting to

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sue Herd was strategically interesting. Newspapers are easier targets than

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individuals in some ways. They have deeper pockets and clearer

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editorial responsibility for what they publish, but they also have

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strong legal teams and the resources to mount vigorous defenses.

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The case went to trial in London in July twenty twenty,

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and it was everything you'd expect from a celebrity legal battle. Explosive, embarrassing,

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and utterly captivating. For sixteen days, the most intimate details

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of Depp and Herd's relationship were dissected in open court.

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We heard about drug binges, violent fights, and incidents that

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would make a marriage counselor weep. The British tabloids, with

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their typical restraint, covered every salacious detail. The son's defense

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was simple but devastating. They argued that calling Depp a

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wife beater was substantially true because he had in fact

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beaten his wife. To prove this, they presented evidence of

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fourteen separate incidents where heard alleged Depp had been physically

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violent toward her. The evidence included photographs of Herd with

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apparent injuries, text messages from depth describing violent fantasies, audio

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recordings of their fights, and testimony from friends and staff

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members who claim to have witnessed the aftermath of alleged abuse.

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But here's where the case gets really interesting. From a

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legal perspective. Depp wasn't just fighting the newspaper's characterization of

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him as a wife beater. He was essentially arguing that

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none of the alleged incidents had happened the way Herd

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described them, and that she had fabricated evidence to make

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him look guilty. This meant the trial became in effect

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a referendum on whether Johnny Depp had abused to Amber Heard.

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Every allegation, every photo, every recording was scrutinized by Judge

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Andrew Nicole, who had to determine what had actually happened

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behind closed doors during their marriage. The judge's decision, announced

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in November twenty twenty, was unequivocal and devastating for Depth.

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Judge Nickel ruled that the son's characterization of Depp as

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a wife beater was substantially true. He found that twelve

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of the fourteen alleged incidents of violence had been proven

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to the civil standard, meaning it was more likely than

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not that they had occurred. In his one hundred twenty

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nine page ruling, Judge Nicole systematically dismantled Depth's credibility and

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accepted Herd's account of their relationship. He wrote that he

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found Herd to be a credible witness, despite some inconsistencies

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in her testimony, while he found Depth's denials unconvincing. The

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judge specifically rejected Dep's claim that Heard had fabricated evidence,

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writing that her donation of her seven one million dollar

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divorce settlement to charity was hardly the act one would

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expect of a gold digger. The ruling was a complete

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legal victory for the Sun and a total humiliation for

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Johnny Depp. He had spent millions of dollars trying to

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clear his name and had instead received an official judicial

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determination that he was in fact a wife beater. But

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if you thought that would end Johnny Depp's legal war,

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you don't understand how wealthy, famous people handle public humiliation.

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Sometimes losing just makes them more determined to keep fighting back.

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In a moment, welcome back to celebrity trials, I'm Red Carter,

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and we're exploring how Johnny Depp's reputation destruction in the

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UK became the launching pad for an even bigger legal

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war in the United States. You might think that losing

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a libel case in Britain, where the laws traditionally favor plaintiffs,

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would discourage someone from pursuing similar litigation elsewhere. You would

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be wrong. In March twenty nineteen, just months after the

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Sun article was published, but before the UK trial had

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even begun, Johnny Depp filed a fifty million dollar defamation

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lawsuit against Amber heard in Fairfax County, Virginia. The choice

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of venue was strategic and telling. Depp could have sued

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in California, where both he and Herd lived. He could

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have sued in New York, where The Washington Post is based. Instead,

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he chose Virginia, a state with relatively weak anti slap

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protections and a legal environment more favorable to defamation plaintiffs.

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Anti slap laws that's strategic lawsuit against public participation are

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designed to quickly dismiss meritless lawsuits that are designed to

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silence speech on matters of public concern. California has strong

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anti slapp protections, Virginia's are much weaker. Guess where Johnny

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Depp decided to file his case, But the venue shopping

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was just the beginning of what would become a master

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class in aggressive legal strategy. Depp's Virginia lawsuit was much

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broader than his UK case against the Sun. Instead of

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just challenging whether he was a wife beater, he was

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arguing that Herd's entire narrative of domestic abuse was a

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fabrication designed to damage his career and reputation. The complaint

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painted Herd as a manipulative actress who had constructed an

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elaborate hoax to gain leverage in their divorce and later

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to advance her career as an advocate for domestic violence survivors.

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It alleged that she had staged photos, coached witnesses, and

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even inflicted injuries on herself to support false allegations. Most importantly,

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the Virginia case would be decided by a jury, not

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a judge, and there's a big difference between convincing a

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trained legal professional and convincing seven ordinary citizens who might

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be influenced by factors beyond just the evverace evidence. The

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case was also going to be live streamed, making it

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accessible to millions of viewers who could follow every moment

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of testimony. This wasn't just going to be a legal proceeding.

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It was going to be entertainment. But first, Depp had

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to get through his UK trial, and when Judge Nicole

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ruled against him in November twenty twenty, it created a

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massive problem for the Virginia case. How do you argue

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to an American jury that you're not a domestic abuser

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when a British judge has already ruled that you are.

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How do you convince people that your ex wife fabricated

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evidence when a court has already found her allegations credible.

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The answer, it turned out, was to completely change the battlefield.

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Instead of fighting about what had happened during the marriage,

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Depp's team would focus on what happened after it ended.

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Instead of relitigating every alleged incident of abuse, they would

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argue that Hurd had violated their settlement agreement and destroyed

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his career with false implications. Most importantly, they would use

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the tools of modern media manipulation to ensure that by

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the time the case went to trial, public opinion was

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firmly on Johnny Depp's side. You know what's fascinating about

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Dep's legal strategy. The UK case was actually the stronger

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case for him to win. British libel law traditionally favors plaintiffs.

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He was suing a newspaper with deep pockets rather than

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his ex wife with a personal grudge. The evidence would

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be evaluated by a professional judge rather than potentially starstruck jurors,

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and he lost decisively. So naturally, his response was to

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file an even more difficult case in a jurisdiction where

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the law favors defendants against a person rather than a corporation,

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to be decided by a jury that could be influenced

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by social media campaigns. It's either the kind of legal

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hail Mary that only unlimited resources can buy, or it's

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the most expensive midlife crisis in Hollywood history. But here's

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what Depp's team understood that herds didn't. By twenty twenty two.

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Winning in court wasn't the only way to win. If

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you could win the internet, if you could control the

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narrative on social media, if you could turn a legal

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proceeding into entertainment that people wanted to watch, you could

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rehabilitate your reputation even if the law wasn't on your side.

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The UK case had been decided by one judge who

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looked at the evidence and made a legal determination. The

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Virginia case would be decided by seven jurors who would

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be living in the same social media ecosystem as everyone else,

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and that ecosystem was about to be flooded with pro

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depth content. It was a brilliant strategy, assuming you don't

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care about little things like the integrity of the legal

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system or the precedent you're setting for. How powerful people

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can use the courts to destroy their accusers. And that

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brings us to the main event. April eleventh to June first,

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twenty twenty two, seven weeks that would captivate America, break

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the Internet, and prove that in the age of TikTok and,

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justice isn't about evidence. It's about who tells the better

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story to the jury that matters most all of us.

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Next time on Celebrity Trials, we'll explore how Johnny Depp

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and Amber Heard turned a Virginia courtroom into the most

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watched show on television, and how social media transformed a

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defamation trial into a cultural moment that redefined celebrity justice.

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I'm read Carter with Celebrity Trials. Remember you don't have

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to be famous going into a trial, but you will

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be when the verdict comes down, and sometimes that fame

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is worth more than any legal victory. Justice isn't always fast,

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but it's always riveting.