Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s Defamation Trial Goes On-Air Via Court TV-DETAILS BELOW
James Franco and Elon Musk are expected to testify on Heard’s behalf
Soon Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s defamation lawsuit will go to trial in Fairfax County, Virginia. Witnesses including James Franco and Elon Musk are expected to make an appearance for the same and it will seemingly draw plenty of media attention on its own.
On Tuesday, it was announced that the court proceedings will be broadcast on Court TV, with the free multi-platform network serving as the pool feed provider for the case.
According to Court TV, the platform will be providing viewers "unobstructed and unbiased views of the proceedings", which are currently scheduled to begin on April 11th in Virginia. Deep is reportedly suing Heard for libel after she penned an op-ed about their past marriage in The Washington Post, in which she claimed that the actor verbally and physically abused her throughout their relationship. The actor is reportedly seeing $50 million in damages.
“Court cases that are as high-profile as this one often create a lot of noise, and it can be difficult for viewers to break through these distractions to have a clear picture of the facts, but that’s where we come in,” said Acting Head of Court TV Ethan Nelson in a statement. “Between the camera feed directly from the courtroom and our first-class lineup of talent, Court TV will be the true source of an unbiased, down-the-middle perspective of the trial as it unfolds.”
Court TV's on-air talent currently includes Vinnie Politan, Julie Grant, Michael Ayala, Ted Rowlands and Ashley Willcott, along with correspondents Julia Jenaé, Chanley Painter and Joy Lim Nakrin.
Depp and Heard’s legal trouble dates back several years now. After Heard divorced the actor, she obtained a temporary restraining order from him in May of 2016.
Their relationship was also the driving force behind a previous libel lawsuit that Depp filed against the British tabloid The Sun, after the publication referred to Depp as a "wife-beater" in a 2018 article. Depp went on to lose both the initial suit and the subsequent appeal, and resigned from his role as Gellert Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts franchise just days later.
In the aforementioned 2018 article in The Washington Post, Heard spoke about how her comments surrounding domestic and sexual violence have negatively impacted her role in the entertainment industry, particularly with efforts to blacklist her.
Back to the present day, both Franco and Musk are expected to testify on Heard’s behalf. During Depp’s libel case against The Sun, Heard testified that Franco asked her about bruises on her face after an alleged incident with Depp.
Meanwhile, Depp claims in his defamation suit against Heard that she had an affair with Musk “no later than one month after” their 2015 marriage. Both Musk and Heard have denied the accusation.
Well, the legal soup has ultimately hurt Depp’s career.
Disney announced plans in 2019 to write him out of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, and J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts trilogy has replaced him with Mads Mikkelsen, but his cries of being “boycotted” from Hollywood are a bit strong.
His 2020 film Minamata appeared at the Berlin International Film Festival, and he starred in the crime drama City of Lies as an LAPD detective investigating the murders of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G.
Image Source: Instagram
