You might have heard last year that Amber Heard, leading female actress in "Aquaman," made allegations over domestic abuse against her then-husband, Johnny Depp. This caused Twitter to "cancel" Johnny Depp, compelling people to boycott his movies, including the latest film from the Harry Potter universe, "Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them." He was even dropped from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise following those allegations.
Recently, however, Johnny Depp has filed a lawsuit against Heard for a whopping 50 million dollars on the counts that the abuse allegations she made were false. In addition, an overwhelming amount of evidence has been presented, including 87 surveillance tapes and 17 sworn eyewitness statements, showing that Heard was the perpetrator of the abuse, not Depp. She even became a "darling of the MeToo movement", a Human Rights Champion of the United Nations Human Rights Office, was appointed ambassador on women's rights at the American Civil Liberties Union, and was hired by L'Oreal Paris as its global spokesperson, as a result of the false allegations, according to the lawsuit from Depp's legal team. Reports say that she even confessed that they were a hoax as well.
It is truly a shame, and I am utterly disgusted at the level of sheer hypocrisy being demonstrated here. Imagine trying to propel your career based upon a mountain of lies and not only that, lies about the abuse that you committed. I honestly don't know how Heard can live with herself, having knowingly ruined someone's life by spreading lies, let alone causing a person such high levels of physical harm on multiple occasions (and on top of that her performance in "Aquaman" was EXTREMELY subpar). What Amber Heard did is just going to be used in favor of those who oppose the MeToo movement, because now there is clear evidence of a female celebrity lying about the abuse. Heard's lies could be used to discredit every woman telling the truth, and especially now we want to and SHOULD believe women. Instead of making things better for women, she has just magnified the damage and has made it increasingly difficult for women in the future to report their abuse because now there will be more speculation.
However, I do also think that it is crucial to think about the double standards we often hold here. Just because women tend to be the victims of abuse more than men does not mean that men do not also suffer abuse. Women should not be blindly believed on every occasion because of that statistic as well. We want so desperately to believe women, yet when Amber Heard claimed to have been abused she was believed without intense further investigations and even put on pedestals for her bravery, despite the fact that Depp's ex-wives had never suffered abuse by him. Perhaps every claim of abuse really should be investigated equally, regardless of the gender of the victim.
I am extremely glad that Johnny Depp was not the abuser because I have always admired his incredible acting and talent. I am glad that my impression of him can remain as good as it was before and that I can give him my full respect again. However, Amber Heard must be treated the same way Depp was when he was accused - full "cancellation."
