No matter how contemptuous one is of celebrity gossip, it has been next to impossible for anyone on the internet to ignore the Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard trial in the last several weeks. Recordings of the ongoing trial gather millions of views on YouTube, while TikTok and Instagram are booming with memes and video edits supporting either side. The case is widely discussed on Twitter, with thousands of users parsing every detail of the testimonies, from body language and word choice to clothing and hairstyles.

While a brief look over one’s recommended feed might suggest that we are spectating a case on domestic violence, it is technically not correct. In actuality, Depp is suing Heard for defaming him in a 2018 opinion piece she published in the Washington Post. Without mentioning Depp explicitly, Heard’s article suggests that he had abused her over the course of their short-lived marriage that ended in 2017. Depp denies any such allegations and argues that his career has been irreparably damaged by these claims. A few days after the op-ed appeared online, Disney removed Depp from the sixth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean, and the actor was asked to resign from his role as Grindelwald in the Harry Potter spin-off series Fantastic Beasts. The removal from Pirates was particularly shocking, since the actor’s character Jack Sparrow has been practically synonymous with the series. Nonetheless, in his testimony, Depp explains that Disney and other brands have been wary of the actor ever since Heard first accused him of abuse and filed a restraining order during their divorce trial in 2016. According to Depp, the revival of these claims in the Washington Post article was the final nail in the coffin for the actor’s career.

The high publicity of the case is certainly not surprising, since the involved parties are famous figures in Hollywood. However, it also adds another dimension to the dispute. Given the intimate nature of the case and the scarcity of hard evidence to work with, the conflict boils down to who does a better job at making the public believe their story. Hence, social media became yet another battleground for the ex-partners. The exposure to public scrutiny has been highly beneficial for Depp in particular. In fact, the high publicity is exactly what Depp and his team were looking for from the beginning. One of the reasons Depp’s lawyers insisted on conducting the trial in Virginia and not in California, where both of the actors reside, is the fact that it was more likely to receive permission for broadcasting the trial there.

In hindsight, this decision has become the turning point for the actor’s public image and reputation. Since the start of the trial, Depp has received an immense amount of support online, with hashtags like #JusticeForJohnnyDepp and #FreeJohnny going viral over all major social media sites. However, as with most viral dramas, this support quickly escalated into violent extremes. An immense number of users mock Heard’s recount of the alleged abuse, and some go even as far as wishing death on Heard and proclaiming that Depp “had every right to kill” her. Despite Heard’s apparent lack of credibility, the way the claims of abuse are treated by the public in such a high-profile case creates horrible ramifications for all domestic abuse survivors. It conveys a message that unless a victim talks, acts, cries, and dresses a certain way, they will not be believed or considered credible, and that the public will readily mock them given the chance. Whether Heard is a victim or not, the sheer scale of the wrongdoings that the public is willing to ignore once they choose a side is concerning and frightening. Despite the alleged abuse that he suffered, Depp is surely not “a gentle, innocuous soul” or “a true gentleman” as he is commonly deemed online. Depp is a man with a history of drug and alcohol abuse, suffering from anger management issues, accused of attacking a crew member before. He is a man that could message his friends about raping his wife’s dead body after burning and drowning her, or wishing that her “rotten corpse was decomposing in a f**ing truck of honda civic”. Depp is a powerful man, established in his career, brawling with someone who is half his age and whose weight within the public and the industry can not be matched to his.

That is not to say that men can not be subjects of domestic abuse, but rather that in such ambiguous, complicated cases, it is detrimental to see in black and white. Although the verdict is weeks away, it is clear that the side that has already lost is neither Depp nor Heard, but all domestic abuse survivors.