WP2
Works Cited
@19bluebayou88. "TikTok don't take it down again! He's telling the thruth. #amberheard #amberturd #teamjohnnydepp" TikTok, 15 June. 2022, https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRmx5MVK/.
This TikTok is from a Youtube clip posted by Bruce Rivers. Rivers is a criminal defense lawyer in Minneapolis. In the video Rivers says the facial expression she made tells us that she is lying and is “full of shit,” and mocked the facial expression she made in the view. It has 3.5 million views with 400k likes. Most of the comments on the video are laughing faces mocking Amber Heard. This video is important because they are not listening to what she is actually saying, instead they are focused on her face and deeming her a liar because they did not think the face she made was a face a “real victim” would make.
@courtneyleighholl. "Just following Heards tutorial...this took me fucking hours so it better to viral 😂 #amberheard #amberturd #bruisekit #amberheardbruisekit." TikTok, 30 May. 2022, https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRmx2pdB/
@memeclips07. "Just watch 👏👀 #johnnydepp #amberturd #amberheard #justiceforjohnny #amberisrude" TikTok, 24 May. 2022, https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRmxyA9s/.
@randomclips971, "Episode 2 #teamjohnnydepp #justiceforjohnny #johnnydeppisinnocent #istandwithjohnnydepp" TikTok, 29 May. 2022, https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRmxM2y5/
“Amber Heard Memes Tell Us That the Joke Is Still on the Woman.”
Https://Www.outlookindia.com/
, 21 June 2022, https://www.outlookindia.com/culture-society/amber-heard-memes-tell-us-that-the-joke-is-still-on-the-victim-news-203339.
This article talks about how the trial was painted as an “attempt by a famous, wronged man seeking justice from his vengeful and abusive former wife who beat and bullied him and then lied about it.” This article talks about how social capital can influence public perception and control narratives. It talks about how public perception continues to shape verdicts.
Benedictis, Sara De, et al. “#MeToo, Popular Feminism and the News : A Content Analysis of UK ...” #MeToo, Popular Feminism and the News: A Content Analysis of UK Newspaper Coverage, European Journal of Cultural Studies, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332820982_MeToo_popular_feminism_and_the_news_A_content_analysis_of_UK_newspaper_coverage.
“Best of Amber Heard Testimony Acting ~Tiktoks.” YouTube, 17 May 2022,
This YouTube video is a compilation of many videos of people mocking Amber’s testimony in court. Many of them are mocking her rape testimony. They are dressing up as her and lip singing her words. Other videos show people with fake bruises on their eye and covering them up poorly with makeup trying to show that it wasn’t possible that she was beaten because her makeup routine would not have worked well enough to cover it up. Many women participated in this trend. Even famous makeup influencers did this trend.
Bunny, Chateau. “Johnny Depp Fans Paid $3K to Unseal the Court Documents Just to Get Dirt on Amber, but Ended up Unintentionally Exposing Depp and Information He Tried to Keep Private Instead. A Thread 🧵🪡 Pic.twitter.com/nzh8ed1yji.” Twitter, Twitter, 30 July 2022,
Colombo, Charlotte. “Why I Don't Feel Safe as a Woman Anymore.” The Daily Beast, The Daily Beast Company, 5 June 2022, https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-i-dont-feel-safe-as-a-woman-anymore-after-the-johnny-depp-amber-heard-verdict.
Dickson, EJ. “'Demoralizing and Demeaning': A Gross Tiktok Trend Mocking Amber Heard Is Going Viral.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 9 May 2022, https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/amber-heard-johnny-depp-tiktok-trend-mocking-testimony-1350584/.
This article by EJ Dickson talks about the viral tik tok trend that was going around during the trial. The trend has ovre 15,000 videos using the sound with some videos gaining over 10 millions views. The videos are reinacting Amber Heards testimony of when Johnny Depp beat her. The videos are mocking Amber and pretending to slap someone.
Goldberg, Michelle. “Amber Heard and the Death of #Metoo.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 May 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/18/opinion/amber-heard-metoo.html.
This article is important because it talks about how this verdict will affect so many others in the future. It highlights the repercussions for other victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse. This case showed that speaking up could leave you sued, bankrupt, and the most hated women. This article also highlighted a point that Amber wrote in her Washington Post article saying, "I had the rare vantage point of seeing, in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse." It is ironic because the trail proved just that. This article also talks about the frustrations of so many men getting off the hook for doing terrible things but women are scorned. Examples such as Trump being elected, Chris Brown is still a major pop star, and a man in Indiana recently won a local Republican primary while he is in jail awaiting trail on charges of murdering his wife. These examples highlight the patriarchal and misogynistic world we are living in.
Goldberg, Michelle. “The Amber Heard Verdict Was a Travesty. Others Will Follow.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 2 June 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/02/opinion/amber-heard-johnny-depp-verdict.html.
“Google Trends.” #Amberturn #Justiceforjohnny, https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US.
Hess, Amanda. “Tiktok's Amber Heard Hate Machine.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 26 May 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/26/arts/amber-heard-tiktok-johnny-depp.html.
Lampen, Claire. “Which Women Do We Choose to Believe?” The Cut, The Cut, 12 May 2022, https://www.thecut.com/2022/05/why-do-so-many-people-think-amber-heard-is-lying.html.
This article talked about how social media painted Amber Heard as a drama queen during her testimony being raped by a bottle. They commented “crocodile tears” and “WE DON’T CARE” on videos showing Amber cry on the stand. The article talks about how these comments and rhetoric making fun of Amber’s testimonies being abused will affect so many victims and survivors coming forward. It also talks about the “perfect victim” and since Amber was not perfect herself they do not think she can be a victim.
Lilian. “A Man Abused His Girlfriend and Called Her ‘Amber Heard’. He Was Calling Her 'Amber' While Strangling Her and Threatening to Kill Her. the Neighbours Heard Her Screams and Called the Police Who Followed a Trail of Blood into the House and Arrested Him. Pic.twitter.com/xthubzudo4.” Twitter, Twitter, 29 Sept. 2022,
A man abused his girlfriend and called her “Amber Heard”. He was calling her ‘Amber’ while strangling her and threatening to kill her. The neighbours heard her screams and called the police who followed a trail of blood into the house and arrested him.This Tweet is about Sean Lloyd who abused his girlfriend and called her “Amber” while strangling her. This sad example shows just how much this case has impacted victims of domestic violence. It shows that some men think they can get away with abuse and people will think their victim is crazy for speaking out like the world did to Amber.
Maloy, Ashley Fetters, et al. “Depp-Heard Verdict Will Have Chilling Impact on #Metoo, Advocates Fear.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 3 June 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/06/02/me-too-amber-heard-johnny-depp/.
Painter, Chanley Shá. “#AmberHeard Departing the Courthouse after 4 Days on the Witness Stand @Courttv #Deppvsheard Pic.twitter.com/mee81ouatt.” Twitter, Twitter, 17 May 2022,
This video shows Amber walking out of the courthouse being heckled by Johnny fans. In the video you can hear fans call her “gold digger, slut, I hope you die cunt” and more. It’s ironic because these Johnny fans are supporting justice for Johnny because they believe he was abused, but in the process, they are verbally abusing Amber Heard. It also shows the clear hate these fans have to not only Amber but to women in general by the names they are calling her.
SaturdayNightLive. “Johnny Depp and Amber Heard Trial Cold Open - SNL.” YouTube, YouTube, 14 May 2022,
This is an SNL skit about the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial. The skit makes fun of the claim that Amber defecated in Johnny’s bed, although she claims it was the dog. Although SNL did not make fun of her testimony like many others, they still made fun of the whole case. A domestic violence case is not entertainment and should not be used as material for SNL.
Schwarz, Susanne, et al. “(Sex) Crime and Punishment in the #MeToo Era: How the Public Views Rape.” Political Behavior, vol. 44, no. 1, 2020, pp. 75–104, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-020-09610-9.
Suciu, Peter. “There Will Be No Winner as Social Media Continues to Shape the Reputations of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 11 May 2022, https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/2022/05/10/there-will-be-no-winner-as-social-media-continues-to-shape-the-reputations-of-johnny-depp-and-amber-heard/?sh=75c74e9b142b.
This article spoke to Anthony SIlard, Ph.D., associate professor of leadership and the director of the Center for Sustainable Leadership at Luiss Business School in Rome. He said, “"The Depp vs Heard trial is the latest example of how social media has become the new barometer of public opinion that makes or breaks careers.” This article gave great insight to how social media continues to polarize the US at an unprecedented level. He also talks about misinformation and cancel culture that is important to note in this case.
Tuerkheimer, Deborah. “This Was Never about Amber Heard.” Ms. Magazine, 2 June 2022, https://msmagazine.com/2022/06/02/amber-heard-sexual-abuse-domestic-violence-believe-women/.
Part 2:
Before engaging with these sources, my knowledge about the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard case came solely from social media. During the trial, social media was flooded with content about Amber and Johnny. At first, I thought it was odd that so many people were interested in a domestic violence case and I was not interested in the content. However, I quickly realized I was unable to escape the content on social media and this case was not about Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, it was about misogyny. I was so angry reading posts, comments, or TikTok videos mocking Amber or painting Johnny as a hero. I was disgusted at how many videos were being made making fun of Amber’s testimony about being raped. To my surprise, many of the people mocking Amber were women. I could not understand why so many women were doing this. I also found many memes grouping women who have spoken out publicly about injustices being grouped together and mocked. The picture below is an example of one of the many tweets that were mocking Amber. It came from a Conservative meme account that photoshopped Amber Heard, Elizabeth Warren, Christine Ford and Cassidy Hutchinson together insinuating that they are all “liars. ”
Being exposed to these sources made me very sad and angry. I knew social media was mocking Amber through videos I saw on my feed by I never actively looked for them like I did for this assignment. I uncovered so many disgusting posts that made me sick and afraid as a woman. I found videos of people heckling Amber while she walked into the courtroom shouting, “slut, cunt, I hope you die, gold digger,” and more. Many posts made fun of Amber’s appearance saying she had aged badly, has wrinkles, and is not as “sexy” as she used to be but they were quiet about Johnny Depp’s appearance. This degrading rhetoric showed that many people believe women are property and are there to look pretty and do what men want, and if they age or lose sex appeal, they are worthless. These posts and comments made me feel scared to come forward if I was abused or raped.
The articles I read shed light on the impacts that this case will have on #MeToo and victims of violence. The article (Sex) Crime and Punishment in the #MeToo Era: How the Public Views discusses rape culture and analyzes various attributes of rape incidents and how it affects the likelihood that they are perceived as punishable crimes. It highlights why society views certain rape situations as more severe or worthy of punishment. I choose to write about this topic because I want to talk about the aftermath that will come from this case, how social media shapes public perception, cancel culture, and the overall hatred of women and internalized misogyny.
For WP3 I either want to write an op-ed and include tweets, pictures, and screenshots of comments to shed light on how misogynistic and brutal social media treated the case because many people do not realize the extent of the social media presence in this case unless you were an active participant or heavily engaged during the trial. If I do not write an op-ed I would like to make a video compilation of all of the terrible tweets, Tik Toks, and posts about the trial. If this trial happened when social media did not exist, even if the verdict was the same, the public would not hate Amber as much as they do. I would also show examples of men who abused women and are still accepted in society today and how our society treats victims so terribly if they are not the “perfect victim.” I think putting all the sources I found together in a short video will tell a story of cancel culture, misogyny, and how social media impacts public perception. Additionally, it is hard to explain memes and Tik Tok trends in an essay. However, the video would be harder to accomplish because I am not overly talented in video editing or production. There would be a learning curve, but I would be more engaged with WP3 and more passionate about it.