Cancel culture is real

So, apparently making an oblique reference to an unnamed abuser in an op-ed column can cost you 15 [correction: 10] million bucks. (Worth noting that Depp couldn’t win his defamation suit in the UK, making this outcome all the more shocking.)

Assholes have to stick together:

Some real interesting responses on Depp’s statement on Instagram, like this one from Ryan Adams, previously accused of sexual misconduct by seven women pic.twitter.com/hLCqzkdS3e— Anna Merlan (@annamerlan) June 1, 2022

I suppose being outside the courtroom cheering for Johnny Depp is less morally grotesque than going to a fascist rally or something, but in terms of just being an absolutely pathetic loser, it’s hard to think of something really equivalent.— Isaac Chotiner (@IChotiner) June 1, 2022

Anyway, the implications of this verdict are very much…not good:

Amber Heard did not even name her accuser. What woman will come forward now? What woman will speak to a reporter? What woman will confide in a friend? #MeToo was in many ways a women’s free speech movement. The implications for free speech in this backlash are chilling. https://t.co/Mb2gJfDYZ1— Moira Donegan (@MoiraDonegan) June 1, 2022

Don’t worry, I’m sure Bari and Sully have found a Wesleyan sophomore who told a student reporter than Oscar Meyer turkey covered with ketchup probably shouldn’t be called “coq au vin” or something.

…Paul in comments:

Amber Heard’s version of events was backed by reams of corroborating evidence.

Johnny Depp’s version was an elaborately nutty conspiracy theory.

This is quite literally true:

I cannot get over how many people have managed to both-sides this.
Depp’s entire case against Heard is that she engaged in a years-long conspiracy to fake all this evidence and convince nearly a dozen people to lie under oath for her. https://t.co/he7r8EXrhw pic.twitter.com/xqJoJd2FQf— Michael Hobbes (@RottenInDenmark) May 30, 2022