Here’s the deal. Back in 2018, the Washington Post ran an opinion piece by Hollywood actress Amber Heard, I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change. The piece, which identified Heard as “an actress and ambassador on women’s rights at the American Civil Liberties Union,” features what I would call a “glamor shot” of Ms. Heard (shown above) arriving the premiere of her new film Aquaman.
Amber had married Johnny Depp back in 2015, a marriage best described as “tumultuous”, even by Hollywood standards, and even, one might say, by Johnny Depp standards. Well, anyway, the two parted with, among other things, multiple mutual accusations of physical abuse. In her opinion piece for the Post, Heard referred obliquely to her marriage/divorce as an event making her the target of endless public ridicule, contempt, and harassment for daring to stand up to the patriarchy. Depp had already sued a newspaper in the UK for calling him a “wife beater”, on the basis of what Heard had said about him, but lost, the court rubbing it in just a bit by saying that it found 12 of the 14 accusations Heard made about Johnny to “have been proved to the civil standard” (rather than the criminal) in the UK. In response, two million enraged pathetic idiots no life incels die-hard 21 Jump Street fans signed a petition to have Heard taken off Aquaman, an effort that fortunately failed.
Well, at this point, Heard is starting to look like an awfully sympathetic character. I mean, how can you not feel sorry for anyone married to Johnny Depp for a day, let alone a year, even though she/he did, in effect, ask for it? Amber received $7 million from Johnny after the divorce, which she said she’d donate to charity, half to the American Civil Liberties Union and half to the Children’s Hospital in Log Angeles. Which was fine, except that, as it turns out, Amber didn’t come through with all the cash for the ACLU, something that came out recently in another trial, a suit brought by Johnny bitching about the Post opinion piece that Amber wrote, even though he wasn’t specifically mentioned in the article, claiming, among other things, that it cost him the role of “Jack Sparrow” in a sixth “Pirates of the Caribbean” film.1
According to Melissa Dellatto, writing in Forbes, at the new trial, which is still going on, an official with the ACLU testified that Amber gave them $350,000 back in 2016, while Johnny himself kicked in with a hundred grand. Later, a “fund” kicked in with $500,000, followed by $350,000 from another “fund”. The mysterious fund that coughed up the $500,000 was apparently set up by electric Twitter man Elon Musk, who just happened to be dating Amber at the time. The source of the remaining $350,000 seems still to be revealed.
Further raining on Amber’s parade was one Christian Carino, a Hollywood talent agent who’d represented both Amber and Johnny, but who, it seems, maybe likes Johnny better now, because he obliged Johnny by reading to the court an email he sent Amber regarding her involvement with Musk, to wit: “You weren’t in love with him, and you told me a thousand times you were just filling space.” And, it seems, filling up the ACLU’s coffers as well.
The final burn—so far—is the revelation that the ACLU helped write the early drafts of Heard’s opinion piece with the Post, and, furthermore, there was perhaps just a wee bit of jockeying to make sure the piece came out right around the time of Aquaman’s release.
So, the Washington Post ran a “passionate” opinion piece largely to garner publicity for a Hollywood actor and to help her pay off, more or less, a debt she owed to the American Civil Liberties Union? The American Civil Liberties Union wrote an opinion piece designed to generate publicity for an A list Hollywood star? Elon Musk paid $500,000 to smell Amber Heard’s perfume? Is there a moral here? I see at least two. One, never marry Johnny Depp. Two: Elon Musk isn’t as cute as he thinks he is.
Afterwords
It’s, well, interesting that I can find no mention of the “money angle” to all of this in either the New York Times or the Washington Post.
1. No one seems to know, or care, if the Children’s Hospital got its money. As for a sixth “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie, write your own joke. Please!
