Judge Penney Azcarate took control of her courtroom Monday as Johnny Depp’s redirect testimony got rolling, essentially telling the fans who managed to get seats in the defamation trial to keep their mouths shut.
“Order in the court or I will have you removed,” Azcarate told the gallery after giggles and then laughter were heard in the courtroom. “Understood?”
Some in the audience had been reacting to Depp’s somewhat muddled response to his attorney’s question about what movie franchises he had been in before he was dropped from “Pirates of the Caribbean.”
“Boy, um, ‘Alice in Wonderland’? I’m so pathetic when it comes to knowing what movies I’ve done. I’m sorry,” he said, smiling sheepishly and looking around the room as he earned a few laughs. “I don’t watch them. I feel better not watching them. I couldn’t, um, I — what was the question?”
Depp is suing ex-wife Amber Heard for $50 million, alleging she defamed him in a 2018 Washington Post essay where she said she had become a public figure representing domestic abuse. Heard has countersued him for $100 million, also for defamation. Depp has testified that he learned a few days after the essay was published that Disney had cut him from the “Pirates” franchise.
Earlier in the day, Depp was cross-examined by Heard attorney Benjamin Rottenborn, who introduced into evidence a slew of recordings and text messages in which Depp was forced to listen to his own foul language and shouting.
In some of the more tame comments that were introduced, he referred to an argument between him and Heard as a “bloodbath” and told a colleague, “I can only hope that karma kicks in and takes the gift of breath out of her.” He also called Heard — who has had relationships with both men and women — a “lesbian camp counselor.”
The trial is being broadcast live from Virginia on Court TV, which has muted out language not suited for daytime television. It was continuing Monday afternoon and is expected to go about three weeks longer. The civil jury is currently hearing Depp’s presentation; Heard’s team will present her side of the story later.
Meanwhile, outside court, the crowd of fans who clamored for seats has evolved to include two emotional-support alpacas, according to the Washington Post, which also published the essay in question. The animals belong to Depp supporter Andrea Diaz of Lorton, Virginia, who said she started a business during the pandemic where she brings the critters to children’s houses to cheer them up.
“I thought the alpacas might brighten his day,” she told the Post, even though Depp doesn’t enter or leave the courtroom through the front door where fans are gathered.
The alpacas also resonate with a quote being bandied about in court: Depp admitted saying at one point that he wouldn’t work for Disney again even if the company offered him "$300 million and a pack of alpacas.”
