Amber Heard Viral TikToks Triggering Domestic Violence Victims, Experts Say
Amber Heard has been subject to criticisms after sharing her testimonies, and the public's reactions can reportedly trigger abuse survivors anytime.
Last week, Heard took the stand and accused Depp of physically, emotionally, and sexually abusing her during their marriage. Despite sharing her account, the public mocked her and tagged her as the real villain.
While Depp's number of supporters continue to balloon, the "Aquaman" actress suffered ridicule as people found her statement as her worst performance. Videos of her most emotional moments went viral, with TikTok clips continuing to receive views.
Heard has since fired her previous PR team over the non-stop negative reports about her. Unfortunately, these also affected the survivors of domestic abuse.
Communications director at the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, Laura Palumbo, said that people tend to view the defamation case as a show rather than a serious, real-life situation.
@the___johns #amberheard #amberheardisaliar #justiceforjohnnydepp #amberheardjohnnydepptrial #amberheardjohnnydepp #amberturd #amberturdisanabuser #liar ♬ original sound - The Johns
"Many victims of domestic violence and sexual assault will go into a courtroom at some point and have an experience that is largely outside of their control, in a setting like this," she added, as quoted by USA Today.
Public's Reactions to Amber Heard 'Triggering' Survivors
Experts also told the news outlets that the negative reactions of the public to the case could lead to victims' silence as they worry about being disbelieved.
They added that the disdain, unfortunately, highlights the misunderstandings about the possible incidents inside a relationship.
"There's such a strong desire in the public discourse for her to be the villain, for her to be the example of the fact that there are victims who have ulterior motives, that there are victims who are not telling the full truth. It doesn't seem like there's a lot of folks thinking critically or wanting to understand the nuances of abuse or of unhealthy relationships," Palumbo went on.
For what it's worth, the hashtag #JusticeForJohnnyDepp has reached 9.9 billion views on TikTok alone. A similar hashtag for Heard only has 37 million.
The actress also became part of shocking search terms, including #amberheardistrash and #amberheardcancelled, to name a few.
Depp is suing Heard over the 2018 op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post in which she said she had been a victim of domestic violence. She did not name the actor in her piece, but the "Pirates of the Caribbean" star claimed that he immediately lost his Captain Jack Sparrow role and other projects soon after its publication.
