Johnny Depp Lawyers Discuss Case on Morning Shows: Social Media Didn’t Sway Jury, Verdict Doesn’t Hurt #MeToo Movement

variety.com:

Johnny Depp in the recent defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard, have made joint talk show appearances following the conclusion of the trial.On Wednesday, the two made appearances on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and NBC’s “The Today Show” to discuss the case, which ended last week with both Depp and Heard being awarded compensatory damages, albeit with Depp receiving significantly more.On “Good Morning America,” the two were asked by George Stephanopoulos about two points brought up several times by Heard’s camp and victims’ advocate groups.

When asked if social media swayed the jury, Chew responded, “My role is that social media played no role whatsoever. This was a decision made by the jury on the evidence presented by both sides, and as Camille said it was overwhelmingly in Mr.

Depp’s favor.” Stephanopoulos also asked the pair about criticism that the verdict will have, paraphrasing victims’ advocate groups’ responses that the verdict will have “chilling effect on domestic violence victims and it’s a blow to the #MeToo movement.”“I think our response to that is we encourage any victim to come forward,” Vasquez said. “Domestic violence doesn’t have a gender.” When pressed further, she continued, saying, “We do not [think is has any negative impact to the #MeToo movement].

We believe that the verdict speaks for itself, the facts are what they were, the jury made a unanimous decision based on those facts.”The trial began when Depp, the plaintiff in the case, sued Heard for three counts of defamation, claiming that an op-ed she published in the Washington Post in 2018 for damaging his reputation and stalling his career, though he was not mentioned by name in the piece.