• Thursday, April 25, 2024

HEADLINE STORY

‘MenToo’ fires up Twitter after Johnny Depp wins defamation case

Actor Johnny Depp waves at his fans as he departs the Fairfax County Courthouse on May 27, 2022 in Fairfax, Virginia. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

By: Shubham Ghosh

IT’S time for the men to draw level. In 2006, US civil rights activist Tarana Burke had founded the ‘MeToo Movement’ to support women who have faced sexual harassment. What started as a local grassroots work went on to become a worldwide phenomenon, thanks to the Harvey Weinstein episode.

Under the movement, untold stories of women who faced sexual harassment from predators over the years came to the fore.

ALSO READ: Can Depp’s career bounce back after defamation verdict?

For those who felt the battle was not equal, came the Johnny Depp versus Amber Heard trial in 2022 and this time, the victory of the male saw the beginning of yet another hashtag – “MenToo”.

Key moments of Depp vs Heard trial

The high-profile case caught the world’s attention for some time and it finally came to a conclusion on Wednesday (1) with the jury ruling in favour of Depp. Heard will have to pay the ‘Pirates of The Caribbean’ actor a sum of $15 million in damages.

Soon after Depp’s victory became official, Twitter got flooded with the #MenToo hashtag.

 

The tweets that accompanied the hashtag claimed that men too can be victims of domestic violence.

British author Greg Ellis tweeted, “Today’s victory sends a signal. The jury spoke. We had a verdict. The verdict was clear. The truth won out. 6 long years.”

“’Tell the world Johnny. Tell them, I, Johnny Depp, am a victim of domestic violence. See if the judge and jury believe you.’ The jury and judge and the whole world believed this man. He waited 6 years and he told his truth and his truth is now precedence for #MenToo #JohnnyDepp,” a fan of the actor tweeted.

Journalist Moira Donegan expressed a concern over the verdict and said in a tweet, “Amber Heard did not even name her accuser. What woman will come forward now? What woman will speak to a reporter? What woman will confide in a friend? #MeToo was in many ways a women’s free speech movement. The implications for free speech in this backlash are chilling.”

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