Phoebe Bridgers hits out at Johnny Depp fans for ‘disgusting treatment’ of Amber Heard

'Laughing at someone crying in court. It was disgusting'

Phoebe Bridgers has hit out at Johnny Depp fans for their "disgusting treatment" of Amber Heard during the former couple's highly publicised defamation case. "That whole situation was so upsetting to me. Laughing at someone crying in court? It was disgusting," Bridgers told Teen Vogue. The 28-year-old singer said she found the cyberbullying of Heard during the couple's trial in Fairfax County, Virginia, "upsetting". A jury, in June, found in Depp's favour awarding him $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. The punitive damages amount was later reduced to $350,000 in keeping with Virginia law. Heard, the juror found, was also defamed and was awarded $2m. The case was sparked by a 2018 op-ed Heard wrote for the Washington Post that Depp believed implied he was an abuser. Heard was often ridiculed in media coverage and on social media, with hashtags like #AmberHeardIsAnAbuser and #AmberHeardIsALiar trending. The abuse was so bad that one study said it was "one of the worst cases of cyberbullying and cyberstalking by a group of Twitter accounts" ever. Bridges told Vogue: "I think that there's been this falsehood - and I think queer people are included in this - of having to be the perfect victim, or the perfect survivor, or the perfect representation for your marginalised community. https://twitter.com/TeenVogue/status/1585241407308107777 "If Amber Heard exhibited any neurotic behaviour, it was held against her. Then Johnny Depp, out of his mouth, admitted some of the most violent, crazy s*** in court, and it's somehow like, people aren't surprised?" Bridgers said the televised trial, that was viewed like a soap opera, was a "fandom war". "That whole situation was so upsetting to me. Laughing at someone crying in court? It was disgusting," she said. Heard addressed the cyberbullying after the verdict, saying: "Even if you think that I'm lying, you still couldn't look me in the eye and tell me that you think on social media there's been a fair representation." The report into the fan treatment of Heard online noted that those who spoke out in defence of her were "attacked relentlessly" with often "vulgar and threatening language." Bridgers comments about the now-notorious trial come after it was recently revealed it has been turned into a film - Hot Take: The Depp/Heard Trial.

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