TikTok videos mocking Amber Heard’s testimony have created a viral trend on the app. For the past couple of weeks, it’s been almost impossible to go online without coming across new information related to the infamous Amber Heard vs Johnny Depp trial. As you may (or may not) know, Depp is suing Heard for $50 million in damages over a 2018 essay she wrote for The Washington Post, in which she wrote about her experience as a domestic violence survivor.
The actress has testified in her defense; however, the online community has found a way to make a joke out of her “I was walking out of the bedroom, [he] slapped me across the face, and I turned to look at him” speech by reenacting it in a comical way on TikTok. One particular user, @heyitsgingerandpepper, casted his two cats to play Amber and Johnny in his now viral video, which has raked in more than 15.5 million views in just two days on the platform.
@heyitsgingerandpepper Johnny looks so innocent! #johnnydepp #amberheard ♬ original sound – Johnny Depp
The audio in which Heard is testifying to her abuse at the trial in Fairvax, Virginia, has been used in nearly 15,000 popular videos, which disturbingly show reenactments of a domestic abuse scene and displaying people (mostly men) pretending to slap women across the face. What’s truly surprising is the showcase of hypocrisy that Gen Z is manifesting; while this user base is proud to speak up about social justice and mental health, the comments under these videos say otherwise. Most of them can be seen praising the videos calling them ‘creative’ and ‘funny’, ignoring the deeper implications that come with it.
Even though this type of videos violates the TikTok community guidelines that aim to sanction content which “promotes, normalizes, or glorifies extreme violence or suffering on our platform.” Rolling Stone reached out to TikTok for their opinion on the matter and stated:
TikTok said it had removed the videos we sent them on the grounds that it violated the platform’s anti-bullying and harassment policy, which prohibits “content that disparages victims of violent tragedies.” Yet the cat video is still up, as are 14,800 videos that have been posted using the sound.
Having said that, these videos aren’t the only thing that have come out of the trial. The #justiceforjohnnydepp hashtag has accumulated more than 9.5 billion views while a viral video showing ‘support tip jars’ for Depp and Heard at Starbucks, with the former’s being full and the latter’s being empty.
With the tremendous amount of support that Depp is receiving, we can expect to see future domestic abuse victims become too afraid of speaking out about their experience; after all, today’s society is ridiculing a woman for sharing her story and what’s worse is that most of these content creators are pointing out inconsistencies in her testimony without watching the trial in full.
We will surely be waiting to see which measures TikTok will take to efficiently halt the spread of these demeaning videos and as to who will win the case, it will be up to the judge to weigh in all the evidence and decide.