I was completely wrong about the trial. As a white man, I had very little to lose regardless of the verdict of the defamation suit between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp. I thought my awareness that Depp was, is, and will continue to be a huge piece of shit sufficed, and that any more attention given to the situation was a waste of time for everyone involved. The breathless influencer coverage barraging us with Team Depp felt as surreal as it did offensive, and I wanted nothing to do with it.
But so many people clearly did want something from it — a hero, a villain, a courtroom drama, a fashion show — and profit-seeking social media accounts, particularly on TikTok and Instagram, gleefully gave that to them. These platforms don’t run on accuracy or objectivity, they run on heightened emotion and constructed narrative. But even those aware of that fact are negatively impacted by proxy. “Team Depp” believed laughable body movement analysis and misogynistic tropes from legal “experts.” People like me shrugged it all off as a clusterfuck.
