In this op-ed, Teen Vogue politics editor Lexi McMenamin explores how the Johnny Depp Amber Heard verdict doesn't matter after the internet made a spectacle of abuse.
While these fandoms have developed on both sides, Heard has disproportionately been the target of harassment. These extensive campaigns position Heard as the abuser and Depp as the victim, bringing up that Heard hit Depp back, or has a longer history of problematic behavior. Because Heard harmed Depp, her own alleged abuse experiences are being discounted as if shes automatically lying about being abused because she too has done harm. To be clear, Im actually not really interested in calling Heard good; plenty remember, for example, a tweet Heard posted in 2018 that was reasonably called out as racist. Im saying that Heard shouldnt have to be good to be believed.
In the five years count em, five since #MeToo, we have barely developed any nuance. As New York Times opinion columnist Michelle Goldberg writes, the trial marks the death of #MeToo, because, while survivors enjoyed a short period of time when their stories were mostly taken seriously, Heard has now been dragged through the mud, ridiculed, and shamed, all for telling her alleged #MeToo story, seemingly because shes an imperfect victim.
As Voxs Romano pointed out, it kind of doesnt matter what the outcome of the case is especially given that Heards story of abuse (and the ensuing coverage of it in the Sun, the outlet that Depp sued) was vindicated in a British court, which actually has a lower standard for Depps accusations of defamation; that point has done little to minimize the absolute deluge of abuse towards Heard. No matter who wins, we are facing a future where abusers are even more emboldened to use the courts, and where survivors will begin to go silent once more.