Concern for Amber Heard Grows as Trolling Continues Post-Trial

Some fans and social media users are expressing concern over the “bullying” Amber Heard is facing amid the continuing fallout from her loss in court against ex-husband Johnny Depp.

Tea Aquaman star faced intense scrutiny during the multimillion-dollar defamation trial which ended in a jury finding she defamed Depp with actual malice and awarded him more than $10 million in damages.

Throughout the trial Heard was relentlessly mocked on social media by ardent Depp supporters and her recent post-trial interview with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie has seen the mockery continue.

Emotional testimony from Heard alleging she was hit by Depp was even turned into a viral TikTok trend.

The onslaught of how Heard has faced during her trial even previously sparked comparisons to the public mockery Britney Spears was once subjected to during her own tribulations.

“Amber Heard is becoming a punchline in the same way Britney became one back in 2007. We can’t wait another decade until people start looking back with regret and compassion. How is this even happening again?” one fan tweeted in May.

Now some people are defending the actress and speaking up against the barrage of negativity posted to social media about her every day.

“Nah guys the hate Amber Heard is getting is actually astronomical,” tweeted Twitter user GegianaRose in a tweet that has clocked up almost 5,000 likes.

“She literally can’t live her life, these people will bully her till she dies yet don’t see how they’re contributing to abuse?? This is insane. It’s so frightening for her.”

While another added: “Is the world not going to be happy until it’s bullied Amber Heard into an early grave and retraumatized/lampooned DV survivors viciously ad infinitum? Are there no thinking minds, soft hearts, or caring souls anymore? Humanity can’t be human?”

Christopher Bouzy of Bot Sentinel, a platform dedicated to fighting disinformation and targeted harassment on social media tweeted: “Regardless if she lied or not, it doesn’t give you or anyone else the right to cyberbully Amber or people who support her. It doesn ‘t give you the freedom to spam the same messages 24/7 because you watched the trial. So what? Who made you the judge, jury, and executioner?”

Heard broke down in tears during the trial and revealed to the jury while on the stand how she had faced death threats and mocking online from members of the public during the trial.

“I receive hundreds of death threats regularly, if not daily. Thousands since this trial has started—people mocking my testimony about being assaulted,” she said.

She later said: “This is painful, and this is humiliating for any human being to go through. Perhaps it’s easy to forget that, but I’m a human being,” adding: “I hope no one ever has to go through something like this.”

Heard spoke about the impact social media had on the trial during the Dateline interview, telling Guthrie: “Even somebody who is sure I’m deserving of all this hate and vitriol, even if you think that I’m lying, you still couldn’ Don’t tell me—look me in the eye and tell me—that you think on social media there’s been a fair representation.

“You cannot tell me that you think this has been fair.”

On May 19, social media forensic expert Ron Schnell tested that the millions of tweets using the “#JusticeForJohnny” hashtag were “all” negative toward Heard.

The interview comes after Heard’s high-profile court battle with Depp, who sued her for $50 million over a 2018 op-ed for The Washington Postin which she said she was a domestic abuse survivor—a claim the jury found to be false and defamatory.

Following a six-week trial, the jury on June 1 awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages.

Heard, who had countersued for $100 million, was awarded $2 million after it was found that Depp’s former attorney, Adam Waldman, had made defamatory comments about her.