“I spoke out against sexual violence and faced the wrath of our society. This needs to change,” wrote actress Amber Heard in the columns of Washington Post in December 2018, in the midst of the #MeToo movement. Prosecuted for defamation for this platform, the actress was sentenced, Wednesday, June 1, to pay $15 million in damages to her ex-husband Johnny Depp, whom she accuses of violence.
For his part, the actor will have to pay two million dollars in compensation for defamation as well. When the verdict was announced, feminist activists and defenders of the #MeToo movement were alarmed: what imprint will this trial leave on the movement to denounce sexist and sexual violence? Franceinfo returns to the reasons for such concern.
Because the actress’s word has been derided on a large scale
Supported massively with movement #JusticeForJohnnyDepp on social media, the actor of Pirates of the Caribbean said to himself “upset by the outpouring of love” testified by his fans at the verdict on Wednesday. Statements that contrast with the hate campaign that fell on Amber Heard. During Ihe six weeks of hearings broadcast on television, Internet users have massively derided each of his speeches on social networks, in particular on TikTok, as recalled Le Monde (subscribers article). Called to the bar one last time on May 26, the actressAquaman said to be “harassed, humiliated and threatened every day”.
“Even the accounts that defend Amber Heard are being raided and harassed, it feels like there’s a parallel lawsuit on TikTok, which is of post-#MeToo martyr Johnny, who is facing a woman who is described as a liar”points to France Inter the journalist Constance Vilanova, co-founder of the Douple Peine collective.
Because the two actors accuse each other of domestic violence
Amber Heard didn’t tick all the boxes in the “stereotype of the ‘good victim'”explains feminist activist and author Valérie Rey-Robert to franceinfo. “I think it’s a very deep-rooted myth that if you fight back or fight back then you can’t be considered a victim because victims have to be innocent, innocent and terrified,” defends Christine Scartz, director of the Jane W. Wilson Family Justice Clinic at the University of Georgia School of Law, to the ABC (in English). This trial will have massively contributed to reinforcing harmful stereotypes on the very definition of the status of victim, she adds for the American audiovisual group.
Because there is the fear of a shortcut around the verdict
The jurors, five men and two women, concluded that Amber Heard defamed her ex-husband. “However, all the public is likely to take away is that she lied about the abuse charges, which is not what this verdict says.”, regrets Valérie Rey-Robert. The very issue of the trial, namely whether the title and two passages of a forum, published by the washington post in 2018 and signed by Amber Heard, contained defamatory remarks with regard to Johnny Depp, no longer counts, according to her. Feminist activists fear that the name of Amber Heard will, in the future, be associated with the image “of the false victim”.
“It’s going to be a backdrop. The Depp-Heard verdict will be remembered with every new case.“, anticipates for franceinfo Anne Deysine, specialist in political and legal issues in the United States, and author of America and Democracy (The Harmattan, 2019). “It’s as if all the benefit that the #MeToo movement has brought is collapsing”, adds the lawyer.
Because the threat of a defamation conviction can discourage victims
“This verdict sends a negative signal. Women will no longer dare to speak out without fear of a libel suit”regret again Valerie Rey-Robert. Especially since the Depp-Heard trial is far from being an exception: en march, the singer Marilyn Manson, hasLongtime actor Johnny Depp has launched a similar defamation suit against actress Evan Rachel Wood. The United States does not have a monopoly on such procedures. Accused sexual harassment during movement #MeToo, the French politician Denis Baupin had thus attempted a defamation lawsuit against the media and his accusers. A lawsuit lost in 2019.
“The question is what impact will this lawsuit have on the waitress at the local cafe or the student at university who plans to report their attackers but would not have the financial means to face possible legal proceedings”however, insists Jamie Abrams, professor of law at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, for Mediapart (article reserved for subscribers).
“Our thoughts go out to Amber Heard but also to all women survivors of domestic violence who are condemned to silence because they have seen, read, heard what we do to those who speak, to those who defend themselves”, thus posted on his account Twitter the association Dare feminism! when the verdict is announced.