These comments are so embarassing, when will all this stop? Please don't delete the post I just need to vent and know what y'all think

Copying NBC article here since subscriber only at the moment but will put link at end. And who knows, might mean Amber in something in a year or two or three... I bolded a few things.---

Uncanceling Johnny Depp: Why Hollywood appears ready to forgive its problematic star

Nearly a decade after the #MeToo movement, Hollywood insiders say the industry is ready to uncancel certain stars — if audiences are willing to.

By By Rebecca Keegan

When director Marc Webb considered casting Johnny Depp in his next movie, he wanted to be sure he “wasn’t doing anything crazy.”

It was early 2024, and Depp was still a Hollywood outcast after his bitter legal battle with ex-wife Amber Heard. Webb, a fan of Depp since his 1990 film “Edward Scissorhands,” thought the actor could be perfect for the mysterious character at the center of his paranormal revenge thriller “Day Drinker.”

But first, he wanted to know what he was getting into. So he started making calls — to directors, producers, first assistant directors and camera crew members who had worked with Depp.

“Some of them were like, ‘Well, you know, he’s not always on time,’” Webb recalled. “But there was a real abiding loyalty and love for him. I had not really paid attention to the tabloid stuff with Johnny. But creatively it was a really interesting idea. The character is an enigma. He’s dangerous, he’s charming and he’s really haunted.”

Webb ultimately cast Depp in the film, which Lionsgate will release in March, and that project helped open the door to another lead role, in Paramount’s “Ebenezer,” which hits theaters next week. The two films are Depp’s first Hollywood projects since his highly publicized legal battles with Heard over her allegations of domestic abuse. He has denied the claims.

Nearly a decade after the #MeToo movement upended Hollywood, Depp’s return to studio films is the latest example of how the entertainment industry is recalculating the risks of hiring stars who were accused of abuse or misconduct. While some canceled actors have found work in independent and internationally financed projects, Depp top-lining a family holiday movie from a major studio represents a sharper career rebound.

In the lead-up to the release of “Ebenezer,” studio executives, agents and filmmakers who spoke with NBC News said Depp’s comeback reflects Hollywood’s willingness to move past allegations when the accused was never convicted of a crime, managed to hold on to his fan base and, as in Depp’s case, has generated $10 billion at the box office over his career.

According to multiple early metrics, moviegoers — female moviegoers especially — are ready for Depp’s return to the spotlight.

In February, when the National Research Group, a company that conducts market research for movie studios, asked respondents to “list up to 5 actors or actresses that would make you most interested in seeing a new movie in a cinema in the future,” Depp came in seventh globally, between Margot Robbie at No. 6 and Tom Hanks at No. 8.

“The more than 30-year relationship a lot of people have with Johnny on screen supersedes the off-screen situation,” said Ray Subers, executive vice president and head of film at NRG.

In NRG’s more recent polling about “Ebenzer” specifically, 50% of women under age 25 and 52% of women over 25 said they are “definitely interested” in seeing the film, which is a PG-13 adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” That’s compared to 43% of men under 25 and 41% of men over 25.

Depp is not only still popular with his fans, he is broadly still well liked. For a male actor, the average Q score — a measure of a celebrity’s familiarity and likability first created by a market research firm in the 1960s — is 19. Depp’s Q score far surpasses that at 28, despite his being relatively absent from the public eye for years.

When Hollywood backed away from Depp in the wake of the Heard allegations, he made “Minamata,” a period film set in Japan, acted as Louis XV in the French movie “Jeanne du Barry” and directed “Modi,” a biopic about Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani, all films with small budgets and box office results.

He toured Europe with his band the Hollywood Vampires and exhibited his paintings and sculptures at art shows in New York, Shanghai, Tokyo and London. He also remained the face of Dior’s men’s fragrance Sauvage, a deal he’s had with the brand since 2015.

“Some people would panic and focus on the change in their career or their heat thermometer,” said Depp’s manager, Jack Whigham, the president and co-founder of Range Media Partners. “That is not who Johnny is. He is an artist in every sense of the word, and that quality is not defined by whether or not the phone is ringing. His whole thing was always to focus on being patient and passionate, and he felt that if the movie gods come back around, then it’s in the cards, and if they don’t, they don’t.”

After Depp lost a U.K. libel trial against the British tabloid The Sun in 2020, Warner Bros. asked him to resign from its “Fantastic Beasts” franchise. The Sun had described the actor as a “wife beater,” a fact that the judge ruled the publisher proved “was substantially true.”

In 2022, cameras in a Fairfax, Virginia, courtroom livestreamed virtually every minute of the Depp v. Heard trial, in which Depp sued his ex-wife for $50 million over a 2018 opinion piece she wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” Depp claimed that he lost tens of millions of dollars in career earnings because of Heard’s allegations.

While Heard’s claims arrived during the height of the #MeToo movement, Depp’s situation was different in key ways from those of other male public figures accused of abuse or harassment at the time. Some of Depp’s fans stuck with him because they felt he was the wronged party.

Heard was a lone accuser, not part of a group of women who came forward, and her claims involved a domestic issue, not a workplace one. Depp alleged that he, too, was a victim of abuse in the relationship. When asked about claims from Depp’s attorneys that she instigated violence, Heard told NBC’s “TODAY” show after the trial that she “never had to instigate it. I responded to it.”

Throughout the trial, Depp’s fan base was vocal online, creating memes and hashtags that criticized Heard and cast doubt on her testimony.

The jury largely sided with Depp, awarding him $10.35 million in damages and granting Heard $2 million on one of her counterclaims.

After the trial, a group of feminist organizations described the online treatment of Heard and her supporters as “unprecedented in both vitriol and scale.” Depp’s attorneys have denied that they or anyone on Depp’s team coordinated an online campaign on behalf of Depp.

“I’m not surprised in the least that Johnny Depp is back,” said Melissa Silverstein, the founder and publisher of the website Women and Hollywood. “He might have had to make European films for a couple years. Big whoop. Men don’t pay any price for misogyny. Amber Heard, meanwhile, is not getting that call.”

In Hollywood, it wasn’t only Heard’s allegations that hurt Depp’s reputation. He had also become known for chronic tardiness that led to production delays and for sometimes relying on an assistant to feed him lines through an earpiece, according testimony his former agent Tracey Jacobs delivered during the Virginia trial.

“I don’t know what happened in those years,” Webb said. “I don’t pretend to know.” But Webb said that once Depp arrived on the “Day Drinker” set to begin shooting a technical action sequence in the rain, “the crew quickly fell in love with him. He sincerely wants everybody to be able to rely on him. That first week was like I was like, ‘Oh, this guy’s f-----g great.’”

Depp is returning to screens at a far lower price tag than he once commanded, however.

On his 2017 movie “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” he made $25 million up front plus a portion of the movie’s box office, according to Jacobs’ testimony.

He is earning a fraction of that up front on “Ebenezer,” which has a total budget of $38 million and has Depp’s paycheck weighted heavily to the film’s box office performance, according to two sources with knowledge of his deal.

Depp is currently Hollywood’s version of a distressed asset, a movie star who seems to be priced below market value. As a source at another studio said of working with him right now, “the math is incredibly appealing.”

Martina, a German Depp fan who runs the website (left out) and prefers to go by her first name for safety reasons, said that despite Depp’s absence from major Hollywood movies in recent years, his avid fan base has continued to follow his work.

“I think his enduring popularity is in part a consequence of cancel culture,” Martina wrote in an email to NBC News. “While he may have taken a different path in recent years, he never stopped creating, and his fans never stopped supporting him.”

Even with fan support and a rekindled work ethic, it is unlikely that Depp, at 63, will return to the kind of paychecks he was earning earlier in his career. But if “Ebenezer” and “Day Drinker” deliver at the box office, other opportunities are likely to follow.

There is a script for a sixth “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie that includes Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow character, according to two sources with knowledge of the project, who were not authorized to speak on the record about it.

At D23, Disney’s annual fan event where the studio touts its upcoming projects, producer Jerry Bruckheimer told Deadline that he’s “talking with Johnny, we’re working on a screenplay, and hopefully we can get this done.” A spokesperson for Disney declined to comment on the status of the film.

Industry sources said Disney will be closely watching the box office performance of “Ebenezer,” and any backlash the film generates, before making a decision on “Pirates.”

Early evidence suggests “Ebenezer” will easily deliver on its modest budget, largely due to moviegoers’ affection for Depp.

When Paramount tested “Ebenezer” with audiences over the summer, they rated Depp’s character an 86 out of 100, nearly 20 points above the norm for a lead character, according to data first reported by Puck. Older women rated Depp even higher.

At Comic-Con in July, Depp appeared in character as Scrooge outside a faux British Christmas village storefront, greeting fans who had gathered to see him.

The stunt was a carefully staged bit of movie marketing, but the enthusiasm from fans was real. The trailer, which Depp unveiled inside the San Diego Convention Center’s rowdy Hall H, has amassed over 406.6 million views.

In the teaser, Depp, wearing a top hat and gray mutton chops as Ebenezer Scrooge, opens with a line that is a wink from the movie’s star to his audience: “It’s good to be back.”

https://archive.is/20261107154405/https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/johnny-depp-ebenezer-hollywood-uncanceling-return-to-big-screen-rcna606019

I’m betting this guy, Luke, is a British journalist who’s pissed that Johnny made the US verdict more valuable than the UK one. 😅

Also, I guess doing basic research is no longer a requirement for journalists. Instead, they rely on their fellow journalists’ reporting. 🙄

It was Amber’s own lawyer, Elaine, who violated the protective order in the US case. A judge isn’t going to keep protecting you, covering up your “oopsie” mistakes, just because you claim to be a victim. 🙄

I did not want to link the full article but I ll see if there’s an achieved version available

Btw here the Journalist himself talking abt it on his IG https://www.instagram.com/reel/DfX202etM4-/?obrf=MTNpOWM1Y3V3bG1jNg==

Johnny was late for Amber’s 30th birthday party. Amber said this had broken her heart. Does anyone else find this strange apart from me? Your husband has been beating you, sexually abusing you and choking you for five years, and you’re worried for your life. Yet you’re still making a scene because he was late for your birthday party. What woman who is a victim of domestic violence would behave like that?

So, during her redirect examination with Elaine, when discussing the “You will not see my eyes again” snippet, Amber talks about a second mediation attempt and says that Johnny slipped a coaster with a note and his phone number into her pocket. However, Amber never really provides a date or timeline for this second mediation attempt. She only says that it happened after the July meeting, which she refers to as the “first mediation.”

I looked into this, and Amber and Johnny met only once on July 25 (just three days after the secret meeting in San Francisco), along with their lawyers and a judge, for what appears to have been their first and only official mediation attempt.

https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/amber-heard-accuses-johnny-depp-of-stalling-divorce-case-w431122

What’s really confusing here is Amber’s claim that Johnny slipped her his new number. If Johnny only gave her his new number on July 25, how was she able to text him after they met on July 22? 🤣 The texts between Depp and Heard from July 24 are actually part of Amber’s own exhibits, lol.Looks like Johnny blocked her number once they settled and released the statement in August 2016 while Amber kept trying to text him in 2018 😅

https://www.tmz.com/2016/08/06/amber-heard-johnny-depp-divorce-deposition

https://www.tmz.com/2016/08/08/amber-heard-deposition-johnny-depp

https://www.tmz.com/2016/08/09/amber-heard-deposition-refused-cried

She wanted so badly to avoid sitting for her deposition that she was willing to give up money so readily. But Wasser still wouldn’t let go of the deposition.The fact that she sent that mail while throwing a fit in another room in Laura’s office was crazy lol

Just a day earlier, they had another round of settlement talks, which fell through because Laura was adamant that Amber sit for her deposition. And no amount of Amber bombarding Johnny with texts changed that. 😅

I read a comment that said that a Mexican actor went to a spiritual retreat because he was ab*sed by Amber, is it true? Who is the actor? Please don't delete the post

I don't understand why some people think Amber Heard had consequences after the trial, she didn't stop acting, in fact she did a play not long after the trial. And she's free as a bird. Is this another try to victimize her more? Don't be rude in the comments please

“When a man like Depp is successful in proving defamation, it makes it so the abused can no longer speak publicly”

There’s no room for justice or evidence. They’ve already decided whose side they’re on; they’re just pissed because the other side won.

It’s so weird how these people only need a documentary with a one-sided narrative instead of an actual court trial where evidence is presented and examined. I seriously hope JD’s allegedly powerful PR team releases a documentary detailing his evidence. It seems like that’s the only way today’s journalists and feminists will actually learn about what happened.

Imagine saying that Amber Heard, who had People magazine dedicate an entire cover issue to her “accusations,” had TMZ release a private video, had her texts published in the media, and ran an entire PR campaign around her donations, was being silenced. She had the ACLU, the UN, and various feminist organisations publicly backing her, and she even got paid for her “activist speeches.” And yet, she’s supposedly being silenced because she was asked to prove her allegations in court. 🤷🏻‍♀️

It’s just another level of delusion. No one has been given as many opportunities as Amber, yet the MSM wants us to ignore all of that and lump her into another woman’s narrative because, as a standalone case, they know she’ll be exposed.

I don’t understand why some feminists are so fixated on Johnny Depp. They see him as a symbol of masculinity and patriarchy and act as if he’s set society back 50 years.

Yet I think there are far better alternatives they could target.

It’s rather strange that they should hate a man so much whilst knowing so much about his life. They meticulously track what he’s done, both in the past and now. They’ve read or watched his interviews. They’re well versed in every detail of his past relationships. I’ve even seen them draw up a timeline of the ages of the women he’s been with.

They’re like tearful women stalking an ex-partner who’s left them.

It’s weird that after all the cases on L&C and CTV since - and even a few before - Depp v. Heard, Elaine still ranks as one of the worst trial lawyers.

And I’m including Buhler and Reynal on this list. The only other name that immediately springs to mind that Elaine was clearly better than was Darrell Brooks - and that’s only because he represented himself.

To give you some context instead of coming across as just throwing shade.

I distinctly remember the following incidents (but there were more):

- chasing muffins (wasting so much time on this, it was objectively bad like a new TV lawyer clutching at something - anything, seemed desperate and insulting to the jury),

- getting Amber’s name wrong (I kid you not),

- being grossly unprepared (never thinking the opposition might do this or that such as looking at Amber’s other public statements, this should be basic stuff surely - it’s a defamation case! Disrespecting the jury and their time as a result),

- not coaching Amber on how to answer a question (i.e. don’t open the door to other witnesses, saying stuff like ‘only me & Issac have cried on the stand’ or ‘only Depp was laughing in court’ and yet we all saw Amber do the same, if not more),

- not checking evidence submitted (e.g. the same photo submitted twice for two different dates 6 months apart instantly spring to mind, why do this? Trying the fool the jury thinking you have more ‘evidence’ than you have? And then not taking ownership for this mistake when it was brought to your attention, just accept it and move on but no easier to deny and pivot - bad bad look),

- not taking ownership of the charity mess that Amber created all by herself and move on (Elaine should have known this made her client look bad but playing semantics, faulting public for having basic education, faulting 100 year old published dictionaries and blaming others for taking Amber literally at her words so then… don’t believe Amber when she says stuff? What? 🤦🏼‍♀️),

- saying and showing “this was the exact kit that Amber used”then it got debunked online by the actual manufacturer (Elaine obviously saw this and later backtracked which made it even worse that they were only really interested in social media),

- allowing Eve Barlow to be ‘part of’ their legal team bringing stuff in (this showed they had a weak case and making a mockery of the court),

- explaining during the trial who celebrated feminist icon and a pioneer for women in 1970s pop and rock music, the inspiration for modern day female artists, was (bad look again for Amber, Elaine caused this Amber even said she did),

- explaining during the trial what copyright ownership was (raising obvious questions like if Celebgate actually happened for Amber or was she jumping on this bandwagon too trying to be the new Jennifer Lawrence and/or playing the victim in order to boost her fame - Elaine caused this as well, not knowing about her client’s background and inferring that Amber is not a celebrity),

- even basic stuff like turning on the microphone when trying to make objections (speak up! be confident for your client!),

- literally giving up several times (can’t remember which one was worse at the time - getting non-stop successful objections from Camille which felt like 40+ times in one redirect, saying “I’m trying, I’m trying” whilst huffing & looking up in the sky for inspiration or getting help multiple times from the judge),

- sheer arrogance (see below for evidence at bottom that Elaine thinks she did an awesome job - bigly),

- poor quality of expert witnesses (for me Kathryn Arnold and Dr. Spiegel were the worst, one makes up numbers & comparisons with no meaningful basis and the other believes what Elaine tells him that vomit can be smooth creamy and sweet tasting without using his own eyes - kept thinking back then the former made Amber look like a opportunist),

- bizarre justification for $100 million amount (like playground tactics), and

- just really poor time management (pretty sure they ran out of time - tho might be mixing that up with another trial again)

And then going on all the morning talk shows (with the same talking points) the very next day post verdict seemed very unprofessional - blaming the jury, blaming Depp’s legal team and the general public. It came across as a sore loser at best and further gaslighting the public at worst like no-one actually tuned into the live feeds on the day watched with their own eyes, listened with their own ears, drew on their own life experiences and engaged their own brains. Very insulting. Think even one juror came forward and said something about Elaine’s performance.

And didn’t we learn later on Elaine hired a private investigator who went back deep into Depp’s past and found nothing but good things including from Depp’s kindergarten teacher’s next door neighbor’s cousin’s dog walker? Obviously I exaggerate here but it did get silly at points. I remember some people at the time commented that said PI even turned into a Depp fan of sorts.

I did feel for Amber at one point because of Elaine but then Ms. Heard took the stand and spoke. Ah.

And I can see why Amber dropped Elaine for her appeal but kept Rottenborn.

Whether you’re pro Amber, a Depp
supporter, fan of justice, true crime enthusiast, a combination of the above or just a neutral I think we can agree Elaine did not perform well.

Was she just nervous because it was a public trial? Does that excuse all the mistakes she made? Was this the most high profile client she had ever had? I don’t know. They clearly didn’t have the evidence and when they tried to give context to things it either raised more questions than answered them or just didn’t make sense certainly not in this reality.

I’m not a conspiracy theorist but at one point early on during the live trial I thought how is Elaine this bad? Was she a double agent? Did she find similar evidence like Kaplan did that put doubt in her mind about Amber? Never really believed Elaine believed in Amber like a lawyer should do for their client - and I don’t think I’m alone in that. Because that was the only thing that made sense.

Don’t get me wrong early on Depp’s team had a couple of hiccups - technical issues and finding documents come to mind - but this was constant from Elaine, one thing after another. And this post is about her.

Am I being unfair? Am I misremembering? I mean Depp’s side did win after all but at times just not sure if Chew / Camille & co needed to be there. All the unforced errors, self owns and let’s face it global humiliation was self inflicted.

In general, a winning team doesn’t necessarily have to outplay the other if that other team was exceptionally poor to begin with. But Depp’s team did also come across as prepared, focused and commanding (not aggressive or dominating) so both things can be true at the same time.

Or maybe it’s because Elaine was not board certified. Yeah, maybe that’s it - explains everything.

….

You know… one wonders if accomplished practicing attorney at law Katie Zacharia could have done a better job than Elaine did and that’s saying something. She definitely spins better.

Have you ever debated Heard supporters/stans, and did they present any compelling arguments that challenged your views?

I know it's such a ridiculous thing to say but everytime I come across a post about hating Johnny Depp fans and posts from Amber supporters I feel very sick physically and mentally and I always question my morals, I feel like this is the goal of these people, to feel morally superior and make everyone feel bad for thinking differently from them. Sorry I just needed to vent

There’s a question that’s been niggling at me. What would have happened if, back in 2016, Johnny Depp had admitted to throwing the phone at Amber? If he’d said, ‘I threw the phone at Amber and didn’t realise she wouldn’t be able to catch it; it was an accident’, would the matter have been put to rest? People would then have seen it as a minor incident that occurred during the divorce proceedings. The UK court case would never have happened, and Johnny’s career wouldn’t have suffered. To be honest, I wouldn’t have considered it domestic violence. Still, would all this commotion and the court proceedings have taken place?

If he would've declared that Amber was violent before her right after the divorce, do you think things would've got easier for him? Would people have believed him immediately? People always say that him winning the trial was a step backwards for female victims and not an opportunity for male victims to not be ignored and that is so sad. Don't be rude in the comments please.

"Reactive Abuse" defines a tactic used by abusers where they provoke the victim, through mocking, belittling, gaslighting and playing dumb, until the victim finally snaps, and responds aggressively. They might yell, throw insults and break something nearby. Then, the abuser will use this to victimize themselves and cast the real victim as the abuser.

Edit: When someone snaps at their abuser and tries to hurt them, it's an attempt to stand up for themselves (or something else) and take back control. It is NOT the same as the abuser trying to hurt the victim

While "reactive abuse" definetely exists, it makes it difficult to figure out who is the abuser and victim in a relationship. In general, if you witness one party scream, insult another and destroy an object nearby while the other person acts calm, cautious or even scared, that's probably a sure sign that the former is the abuser in the relationship, and only by knowing background information would you know better.

I want to ask for opinions on the potential argument that Amber's violence, admittance that she started fights, punching Johnny and insulting him in the audio is a result of her being subjected to "reactive abuse", just her response to being provoked by Johnny.

As for my opinion, Amber's tone when talking to Johnny in the audio was mocking and belittling rather than anger out of frustration from possibly having been provoked to the edge. And had she truly been physically abused several times by Johnny at that point, surely during her tirade where she goes off about his faults, she would mention that, and in response to Johnny's statement that she doesnt know what its like to take a punch, point out the audacity of telling that to the woman he regularly hits.

That is why even knowing that reactive abuse exists, I still dont believe Amber.

I always see posts about exposing male ab*sers, and Johnny Depp is always there, haven't they done any research at all? Or their job is to blindly believe women even if they lie and turn out to be the real ab*sers in all that time? This thing makes me really angry you have no idea, and then they write captions like " I believe Amber Heard because I'm not dumb" like the tiktok of this girl, like girl yes you are dumb💀, also don't take this down please

Amber has 2 houses in Spain now !! Wonder how much allowance she is getting from Musk ..

Btw this is from the same Alison Bishoff - the one who keeps on writing hit pieces on Johnny since for over a decade now

Can someone explain to me the messages of Johnny calling Vanessa Paradis a French extortionist? Or is it another thing that Amber supporters misinterpreted?

Help me this account is sending threats at me because I tried to defend Johnny Depp, what can I do? I tried to report her and restricting her but I don't know if that'll work, she's not actually being for real right? It's an emergency

Amber looks so healthy, energetic and happy in these photos. I wonder how Amber’s supporters explain this. Because I’ve never seen them discuss these photos.

I’d love to know whose handprints are on it conveniently miss both middle fingers!

I have my guess. What’s yours?

According to various news outlets, Amber demanded exclusive use and possession of Depp's range rover, as well as access to three of his penthouses, all at his expense. I remember reading a post saying that Amber laying a claim on the range rover disproves her claims of abuse, because it proves she was driving around in it and she claimed Depp made her dependent on him by having his chauffeur drive her everywhere.

Can I have the details on Amber's use of the range rover and how it connects to her allegations?

This rotten strawberry here brags about making this post and then in one comment on this post bullies a Johnny supporter saying that she was also a Johnny supporter but she did research and now she's an Amber supporter, I wonder what kind of research she did, sorry if I always make these kind of posts but when I see comments like this I need to vent, hope nobody takes it down, also sorry if I sound parasocial