Some spectators who attended the defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard in Fairfax County, Virginia are now selling their paper wristbands online.
Sheriffs at the Fairfax County courthouse distributed wristbands as a crowd control measure at the highly publicised trial, which attracted a large number of vocal Depp fans in particular.
Several people who were admitted to the courthouse are now selling those disposable, colour-coded paper wristbands – stamped with their date of entry – on auction websites like eBay for as much as $5,000 (£4,000).
“This is a piece of celebrity culture history,” wrote one seller, who started the bidding for his blue trial day 20 wristband at $4,999 (£3,998). He went on to describe the condition of the wristband in detail: “The wristband has been cut so I could remove it from my wrist, you cannot reattach it without using glue or tape; but I figure this would be better framed.” At the time of writing, there are no bidders for that particular item.
A white wristband from day 16 of the trial already has 6 bidders. That seller wrote of the item for sale: “Seller waited outside of the courthouse to snag a seat into the audience to watch the Depp v Heard trial live in person.”
The Pirates of the Caribbean actor sued his former partner Amber Heard for allegedly implying he abused her in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed about domestic violence; Heard countersued and a jury trial on the defamation claims concluded this week (2 June) with a verdict mostly in Depp’s favour.
The jury found that Heard defamed Depp on all three counts and awarded him $10m (£8m) in compensatory damages and $5m (£4m) in punitive damages. Heard was awarded $2m (£1.6m) in compensatory damages, but no punitive damages.
The resale of courtroom wristbands as a form of movie memorabilia was first reported by TMZ.
