Current Events > 1 month later: Do you feel bad for Amber Heard?

(+) Yeah! (+)

No and yes. There's karma, but she shouldnt have gotten or still get the levels of harassment she did.

A stark warning to celebrities and all those looking for attention: Before proclaiming victimhood, you better have the facts on your side.

Two high-profile legal matters from the past year have driven home that point: the Amber Heard-Johnny Depp defamation trial and the lurid case of actor Jussie Smolletts staged hate crime. At first glance, those two cases may seem as different as they can be one involving a Black man in Chicago and the other a white woman in Los Angeles. But deeper examination reveals a common thread and potent lesson.

In both instances, young, ambitious actors tried co-opting current social movements to garner sympathy and advance their careers. In the end, both failed miserably when the truth prevailed and have been forced to pay a high price.

For Amber Heard, that price will be monetary as well as reputational. Although Depps ex-wife cloaked herself in the flag of domestic and sexual abuse, videotapes and audio recording presented in court painted a very different picture. The jury sided with Depp, awarding him $10.4 million in damages while Depp was ordered to pay Heard $2 million in compensatory damages on one of her three counterclaims of defamation. (She is appealing the verdict.)

Heard made a conscious decision to step onto the public stage as a victim of abuse. She claimed she was speaking the truth by revealing what happened to her, but in the end, the jury decided she mostly lied. Incredibly, the evidence that was presented in court showcased her not as the abused, but as the abuser.

Heards actions will negatively impact her acting career. But more importantly, they likely have caused lasting damage to the #MeToo movement itself, which is aimed at empowering and showing survivors of sexual abuse that they are not alone. Moving forward, how many women or men will hesitate to come forward and confront their abusers out of fear or being labeled a disingenuous or dishonest Amber Heard?

Jussie Smollett, the former Empire actor, attempted to elevate his own fame by wrapping himself in the flag of the Black Lives Matter movement. He initially received a short-term bump in the media as an outraged public clamored to show support for the previously little-known actor.

In the end, Smolletts claims that two men attacked him, used racist slurs, put a noose around his neck, doused him with bleach and told him This is MAGA country, fell apart in court under close examination. He ended up with a five-month jail sentence and $145,000 fine after being convicted on five felonycounts of lying to police. (He is appealing the verdict.)

Both Heard and Smollett willingly injected themselves into highly sensitive debates on social movements taking place in America. Both displayed a shocking sense of arrogance by believing they could tell false stories and get away with them. And both traded short-term publicity and attention for long-term reputation damage that has permanently branded them both as manipulative and dishonest.

Their cases should prove a warning to celebrities, social media influencers and would-be famous people everywhere: You cannot tell lies and hold yourself out as victims when the facts dont back you up. For average people not living in the public eye, both cases are reminders to be very careful about what you make public, because as quickly as you became famous, you can even more rapidly become infamous.

Amber Heard and Jussie Smollett badly miscalculated their respective gambits. They have already paid steep prices and will continue to do so for some time in terms of both revenue and reputation. But the ultimate losers will be the social movements and legitimate victims of sexual or racist abuse who may decline to step forward for fear of being called liars.

The hubris of these young performers has clearly shown that truth still matters in America; and seeking fame at all costs is ultimately not worth the steep price.

It's been like a week

verdict was June 1

Don't fuck with me about time lapses. I feel like a month isn't right,but Im too absent minded to be 100% sure

It's been like a week

Okay, so what? 9 or 10 days is much closer to a week than a month. And I said "like"

It would take a lot for me to feel anything for any celebrity.

I didn't feel bad for Depp either and don't feel happy he won their pointlessly high profile case.

I was confirming your sentiment that it hasn't been very long.

This happened to my dad a few weeks ago

We were watching the news about the texas school shooting and they said the shooting last week

and my dad was like ??? did you hear that
they said last week

wasnt that a month ago

and im like ???

guess too many that he just got confused

that's kinda fucked

You don't feel anything for a dude falsely accused of brutalizing and raping a woman (for years) because he's famous?

I felt bad for her throughout the whole thing, even though is was voting for Johnny

She has no career, no money, everyone hates her, and she owes depp over 8 million

Like she's a bitch but all of it is a lot for a person(especially assuming she does have hpd or bpd)

There are way worse things happening to good people

Maybe a little. Im not looking to see anybodys entire life destroyed. She cant even get a job at Trader Joes without people throwing slushies at her. Whats she supposed to do now? I hope she can find some normal life out in Wisconsin or something.

Men are desperate like that.

Yeah. I don't believe the jury should have found her guilty. The judge in the UK libel case ruled that Depp did violently abuse her on multiple occasions and I believe he did too. She said she's going to appeal and I hope she wins.

This happened to my dad a few weeks ago

We were watching the news about the texas school shooting and they said the shooting last week

and my dad was like ??? did you hear that
they said last week

wasnt that a month ago

and im like ???

guess too many that he just got confused

This is a take.

I'm serious. Why are people like yourself so emotionally invested in a multi-millionaire's squabble? I get when people are just entertained by the scandal but why care to this degree? Acting like it is a murder trial.

Because I can care about more than one thing in my life. Showing interest in a trial does not mean I'm spending every waking hour covering it and talking about it.

You can literally ask someone why they sit their fat ass down watching Netflix or playing on their console lol.

It's so strange that people get triggered over the attention this trial got.

I specifically mentioned the difference between being entertained(though I don't understand how this trash is entertaining)

and being emotionally invested as if this trial has any impact on your life

Even now she's pushing the "Me being called a liar is bad for womens rights." no motherfucker it's bad for liars.