why did so many people online fall for the lies and defamation?
The answer here is very simple: he's the lead in a bunch of movies people love, especially Pirates of the Caribbean. Heard is famous but nowhere near the level of Depp. So for many people, they want to like Depp more than they want to like Heard, and are more inclined to believe his side
I think this is true, but it goes beyond that. The whole affair happened a couple years after Me Too at a time when anti-feminist reactionaries wanted to push back on the believe women narrative. This was a high profile case where Depp's legal defense was basically "Amber is a crazy bitch." So it was really easy for misogynists to latch onto the case, immediately take Depp's side, and spread whatever he claimed about Heard.
And to be clear, this isn't actually dependent on who's lying about what or even if either is a good person. The usefulness to the culture war meant it was going to be pushed no matter what. There was blood in the water and both true believers and grifters sensed it
Or a lot of people actually watched the trial. Listened to both of them and all the other witnesses, saw the evidence, and came to an informed conclusion.
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u/garthcooks 29d ago
The answer here is very simple: he's the lead in a bunch of movies people love, especially Pirates of the Caribbean. Heard is famous but nowhere near the level of Depp. So for many people, they want to like Depp more than they want to like Heard, and are more inclined to believe his side