Dan McLaughlin of National Review Online argues that a recent high-profile celebrity trial offers useful lessons.
A Virginia jury … ruled mostly in favor of Johnny Depp in a defamation lawsuit that dragged on for more than six weeks, awarding Depp $15 million against his ex-wife, Amber Heard, for a Washington Post op-ed under her byline (ghostwritten for her by the ACLU) that effectively branded him a wife-beater. …
… First, of course, there is always a potential upside for fighting to clear your own good name even if you (like Johnny Depp) have a ton of dirty laundry. Depp has all manner of troubles with drink, drugs, and money. He has run through a lot of women. He is, at 58, no longer matinee-idol handsome, but visibly carries a lot of the same sorts of darkness and eccentricity he has brought to his characters on film. He is, in some ways, kind of pathetic. But he insisted that he was not what Heard painted him to be, and fighting back has done a lot to convince the public that there is more to his story. It might even get him back on film. Maybe he can work with Mel Gibson or Woody Allen.
Second, slogans are no substitute for facts. “Hear all women” is a pledge we should all make. “Believe all women,” however, is asking people to shut their brains off at the approach of a slogan and forget the fact that women are people, too. Sometimes they shade the truth or lie, sometimes they are the more abusive party, and sometimes they are cynical, show-business shams. The evidence at trial changed a lot of minds, all the more so the more people watched it. …
… Third, it is hard to fight fame in court or in public. Heard is a modestly famous actress, whose name most people only know, if at all, from her marriage to Depp and the ensuing controversies. Depp has been an A-list Hollywood star for decades. …
