Seen and Unseen: The cultural impact of the Depp-Heard verdict
Raymond Arroyo details the Depp-Heard trial and the Bidens' texting confession Wednesday on 'The Ingraham Angle.'
The Washington Post affixed a lengthy editor’s note to the 2018 Amber Heard op-ed at the center of Johnny Depp’s defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife, informing readers that it published statements that a jury found "false and defamatory."
A jury on Wednesday found that Heard was liable for defamatory comments she made against Depp in the 2018 op-ed that accused the actor of abusing her during their marriage. It was revealed during the trial that the ACLU had ghost-written the piece, which was published just days before the release of her film "Aquaman."
The jury awarded Depp a total of $15 million and awarded Heard $2 million in compensatory damages in a counter defamation suit, though her libel claims were largely denied. The judgment caused social media to erupt online.
TThe Washington Post added a lengthy editor’s note to the 2018 Amber Heard op-ed at the center of Johnny Depp’s defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife. (ERIC BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images)
She did not refer to Depp by name, but his lawyers argued the piece falsely portrayed Heard as a domestic violence victim and ruined his life. On Thursday, the Post added a message to readers above the version of Heard’s op-ed that remains online.
"Editor’s note, June 2, 2022: In 2019, Johnny Depp sued Amber Heard for defamation arising out of this 2018 op-ed. On June 1, 2022, following a trial in Fairfax County, Va. Circuit Court, a jury found Heard liable on three counts for the following statements, which Depp claimed were false and defamatory: (1) ‘I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.’ (2) ‘Then two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out.’ (3) ‘I had the rare vantage point of seeing, in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse. The jury separately found that Depp, through his lawyer Adam Waldman, defamed Heard in one of three counts in her countersuit," the Washington Post wrote.
The Post did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.
A jury on Wednesday found that Amber Heard was liable for defamatory comments she made against Johnny Depp in her 2018 op-ed published in the Washington Post. (Getty)
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Immediately following the verdict, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy took to Twitter and suggested the Post shouldn’t be let off the hook for its role in the saga. .
"She posted this thing basically saying that Johnny Depp hit her, abused her, did all these horrible things, domestic violence, sexual deviancy, all this stuff in the Washington Post. And what's the Washington Post? They hold no responsibility in this?" Portnoy wondered in a video message.
"Amber Heard, seemingly scumbag, fair trial, got smoked. Everyone saw the case. The Washington Post, you can just do anything, you can just say anything, and they have no responsibility, no skin in the game, they cause all the damage to Johnny Depp? But no, she wants to say that he does this, that, the other thing, we'll just publish it. We'll do no research on our own, no fact checking.' It's crazy," Portnoy continued, calling the paper left-leaning.
Amber Heard testified on May 5, 2022, during Johnny Depp's defamation trial against her. (Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool Photo via AP)
"They can just print whatever they want, and then when it's total bulls--- and a guy, his life has been destroyed, they're like 'Oops, we didn't know. Not our fault. Whoever we talked to wasn't totally truthful. We didn't do any digging. We just trusted them at their word. And we printed it ruined it, Nope not our fault,'" he said.
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Portnoy then declared, "If you ask me, the Washington Post should be held responsible as well. Like you gave her the platform, don't you, like, don't you have some responsibility to make sure what you publish isn't s---?"
Portnoy also referred to Business Insider in his remarks, the outlet that published what he called a hit piece last year on his sex life.
Fox News' Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Rebecca Rosenberg contributed to this report.
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