Johnny Depp fans are attacking Women’s March after the feminist organisation voiced support for Amber Heard and described her as a “victim” of her ex-husband’s alleged abuse.
The hashtag #ShutDownWomensMarch was trending on Twitter this week as Mr Depp’s fans called on social media users to boycott the organisation, which first grew out of the 2017 worldwide protest against Donald Trump’s presidency.
On Tuesday, Women’s March had named Mr Depp in a Twitter thread among a list of other famous men who have also been accused of abusing women.
“Let’s talk Andrew Tate, Johnny Depp, Marilyn Manson, & the pervasive culture of misogyny and sexism that puts women in danger every single day,” it tweeted.
The organisation went on to say that the reason people don’t believe Ms Heard’s allegations against her former husband is because of “sexism and misogyny”.
“Sexism & misogyny are the reasons so much of the internet believes Johnny Depp - not his victim, Amber Heard - despite ALL the evidence of his abuse,” read the thread.
“They’re the reasons Depp’s & his buddy Marilyn Manson’s fans turned to harass Evan Rachel Wood as soon as the Depp trial ended, even though Wood’s abuse at Manson’s hands is well documented too.
“When society sees abused women as conniving bitches rather than victims & survivors, that’s rape culture & misogyny at work. If women with the privilege and resources of Amber Heard & Evan Rachel Wood can’t be believed, there’s not much hope for the rest of us.”
The organisation called on people to believe women when they come forward with allegations of harassment and abuse.
“Women deal with harassment online & in person. We hear from a young age that if we wear short skirts or crop tops, we’re ‘asking for it.’ Every woman you know has a story of harassment or assault,” the organisation said.
“Women’s lives are on the line, every single day. Believe women. End the violence.”
Swarms of Mr Depp’s fans instantly took issue with the comments and leaped to the Pirates of the Caribbean star’s defence, doubling down on their belief that Ms Heard was the abuser and Mr Depp the victim.
“I’m all for #ShutDownWomensMarch. They believe in @realamberheard after abusing Johnny Depp for years and turn a blind eye to all the evidence and allegations against her,” one person tweeted.
“Your entire march is a lie. Depp is innocent, Turd is guilty.”
Another person tweeted: “#ShutDownWomensMarch i’m so disgusted. i marched with them during the start of #MeToo and now they’re defending amber heard simply because she’s a woman. this is a huge middle finger to survivors and feminists everywhere.”
Others revived derogatory hashtags against Ms Heard such as #AmberTurd and #AmberHeardIsALiar that had been widely used during the former couple’s high-profile defamation trial.
Women’s March stood firm as it responded to the backlash from Mr Depp’s fans.
“We’re not going anywhere. #BelieveWomen,” the organisation tweeted.
Others also defended Women’s March on social media, including Stanford Professor Michele Dauber – who led the campaign to remove a judge who sentenced Brock Turner to just six months in jail for raping a woman on the university campus.
“Screenshotted the WM thread and started the countdown until the Depp Men’s Rights lunatics harass them so much and research everyone on the board and harass their employers so that they take it down while @Twitter does nothing. #twitterhateswomen,” she tweeted.
“Just a small sample of the truly bats*** DeppAnon tweets trending against women’s march right now. @Twitter isn’t doing s*** about it because they are making money off the engagement. #Twitter is a vile s***hole of misogynist harassment.”
Mr Depp sued his ex-wife for defamation over a 2018 op-ed for The Washington Post where she described herself as a victim of domestic abuse and spoke of feeling “the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out”.
During the high-profile, televised trial in Fairfax, Virginia, both Mr Depp and Ms Heard took the stand and accused one another of physical abuse.
One of the most damning accusations came when Ms Heard described in graphic detail how Mr Depp allegedly raped her with a liquor bottle in Australia in 2015.
Ms Heard also presented photos of bruises and injuries to the court which she claimed were caused by her then-husband.
Mr Depp, meanwhile, accused his ex-wife of severing the top of his finger after she threw a liquor bottle at him.
The six-week trial became the focus of an intense online obsession, with social media users sharing edited clips of the courtroom drama, memes and conspiracies about the case.
The online frenzy was dramatically skewed in favour of Mr Depp, with dominant hashtags including #amberheardisaliar and #justiceforjohnnydepp.
Outside the courtroom, die-hard Mr Depp fans also camped out for weeks to try to catch a glimpse of the star.
Before the verdict was returned, experts warned The Independent that social media had “weaponised” the trial.
“Social media has weaponised this trial,” said Evan Nierman, CEO of Red Banyan Crisis PR firm and author of book Crisis Averted.
“More people are drawing conclusions about guilt or innocence based on online curated content than they are the facts in the courtroom. And that could have serious consequences for all of us moving forward.”
In June, a jury of seven sided with Mr Depp and determined that Ms Heard had defamed him on all three counts.
Jurors awarded Mr Depp $10m in compensatory damages and $5m in punitive damages, before Fairfax County Circuit Judge Penney Azcarate reduced the latter to the state’s legal limit of $350,000.
Ms Heard won one of her three counterclaims against her ex-husband, with the jury finding that Mr Depp – via his lawyer Adam Waldman – defamed her by branding her allegations about a 2016 incident “an ambush, a hoax”.
She was awarded $2m in compensatory damages but $0 in punitive damages, leaving the Aquaman actor $8.35m out of pocket.
The legal battle appears to be far from over with Ms Heard filing an appeal against the $10.35m award in July, with her attorneys arguing that they believe “the court made errors that prevented a just and fair verdict consistent with the First Amendment”.
The following day, Mr Depp filed a notice to appeal the $2m defamation award the jury ordered him to pay his ex-wife.
