Phoebe Bridgers slams Johnny Depp fans' 'disgusting' treatment of Amber Heard during trial

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By Asiya Ali

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Phoebe Bridgers has hit out at Johnny Depp supporters for the "disgusting" social media treatment Amber Heard received during the defamation trial.

During the former celebrity couple's highly publicized case, the 36-year-old Aquaman actress was subjected to "one of the worst cases" of cyberbullying, according to a report by Bot Sentinel.

The study looked into the anti-Heard Twitter campaigns and discovered that 24 percent of accounts that used negative hashtags such as "#AmberHeardIsAnAbuser" and "#AmberHeardIsALiar" were "created within the past seven months".

In her recent Teen Vogue cover story, 28-year-old singer Bridgers addressed the public reaction to the trial that caused a media frenzy and revealed that she found it entirely "upsetting".

Check out Bridgers' interview below:

"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 marginalized community," the 'Motion Sickness' musician explained.

"If Amber Heard exhibited any neurotic behavior, 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?"

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Credit: Abaca Press / Alamy.

Bridgers went on to describe the online backlash against Heard as a "fandom war" and said: "That whole situation was so upsetting to me. Laughing at someone crying in court? It was disgusting."

The singer then discussed the trial in relation to "cancel culture," and examined whether it was sufficient in holding celebrities like the 59-year-old actor accountable.

"I mean, is [cancel culture] real? Who’s lost their job politically?" Bridgers asked. "[Harvey Weinstein] is in jail for actual sex crimes, and then anything short of that is, maybe, they lose a couple friends or lose a couple jobs…Then five years later, they’re like, 'Sorry, sorry, sorry.' And they come back, but they never apologize - they never go away."

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Credit: REUTERS / Alamy.

Following the six-week trial, the Fairfax, Virginia jury sided with the Pirates of the Caribbean star and found that his former wife had defamed him on all three counts.

Depp was awarded $10m in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages, while The Rum Diary actress was awarded $2m in compensatory damages, but no punitive damages.

After the verdict ruling, Heard addressed the cyberbullying in her first interview after the trial and said: "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."

Featured image credit: Doug Peters / Alamy