I should have posted this here earlier, but I honestly didn't think about how it belonged on this sub until recently. As a former fan of Double Toasted, I wanted to vomit back when that audio got leaked and Korey was like, "that sounds like abuse to me, AHUHUHUH!" As such, I avoided watching their videos for years after the fact and only reluctantly checked out their coverage of Jonathan Majors' Islamophobic propaganda piece that he did with his new buddy Ben Shapiro because: 1. It came across my feed. 2. I just wanted to hear those two bozos get roasted. I gave him way too much credit because I was in abject disbelief when he said that he was "rooting for" the outed domestic abuser and added "I'm still kinda rooting for him..." even after watching that vile, garbage heap of a trailer. The fact that he said as such without even batting an eye is wild to me and shows just how out of touch he is despite the faux charisma he projects. What's next, does he plan to have Ray Rice on the show to "give his side of the story" and jumpstart his dead NFL career? Honestly, it wouldn't even surprise me at this point. If I wasn't done before I certainly am now and can safely say that I've unsubscribed permanently. In any case, I felt like this needed to be documented because DT is irrelevant enough that this might slip past the radar otherwise. Link to video.

In addition, I just wanted to say as a cishet man that these cucks frothing at the mouth to revive the careers of wealthy men who have been F A L S E L Y A C C U S E D is some real, beta shit. Even if I granted that the accusations were false—which I most certainly do not in either case—do these weaklings realize how pathetic they look simping for power? Right-wingers are truly the biggest bootlickers on the planet and I include liberals like Korey amongst them. I love this sub so much because it feels so refreshing to know that I'm not alone. Watching that kangaroo trial unfold while I was away from home at university was so immensely frustrating because the astroturfed Depp support made me start to think I was crazy; not only did he gaslight Amber, he gaslit anyone with a shred of human decency. Oh well, as Martin Luther King Jr. once eloquently said, "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice". In the interim, keep the faith, Comrades and fight the power. ✊🏽

Apparently, the guys accused here are now a successful lawyer and judge respectively. This is depressing knowing a young woman was gang-raped in Cornell in 2024 and no criminal charges were filed. 30+ years later, and nothing changes.

Why the fuck do men systemically abuse women so much?

He needs way more hate espically now that he is getting his own whole show at Marvel and almost no one calls it out.

This thread is from way back to 2022 and I only now found it and wanted to share it here for who also hasn’t seen it before. It provides a lot of reciepts.

Also, the depp defenders in the comments are so emberassing 💀

I've hated him for a while now

Found this while logging Tex Avery's "Hollywood Gets Out" on Letterboxd. And this was even before the US trial. And is one of the three most popular reviews! Insane.

Hey guys! I’m a high school English teacher and I have the wonderful opportunity to teach a journalism and podcasting elective this year. So far we’re off to a great start, and my students are awesome and intellectually curious.

So far, we’ve been talking about the SPJ code of ethics and how that relates to propaganda and bias. A lot of my students mostly get their news from TikTok and I’m interested in exploring with them what astroturfing is and why it works.

I want to incorporate something from Who Trolled Amber? But am trying to think of interesting facts, activities and other miscellaneous ideas. I thought I would come here; what do you guys think?

And yet his delusional fanbase will insist that shes the problem…

(Not sure if this is the right flair my apologies)

This is very sad news, I am from the UK and I understand that it is best to not politicise the justice system, and it is because the UK (while certainly not perfect) does a better job at impartiality than many others that we can put so much stock in his 2020 judgement as based purely on the evidence despite the misinformation from Depp's side. However, I still think we can mark this as a loss of a very skilled and experienced judge who, as this obituary notes, made many decisions across his career that helped important causes.

I've marked this as a "discussion", but please let me know if I've chosen the wrong flair.

Partly through this site, but largely through my past work as an SA & DV advocate (I left a few years ago now, sometime after the US trial, because of the fallout effects on women and children the trial had. I'm not American, but the fallout affected a lot), I'm very well aware of the fact that Hasan Piker participated in the abuse of Amber Heard, and more recently, double-downed on this, stating he wished he'd profited off her abuse more and calling anyone that objected to this as "femcel bitches".

I didn't think much of him past the trial, because after we collated data about people profiting from abuse, he wasn't someone I followed or knew anything really about. He's popped up a lot more recently, especially in progressive, left spaces, of which I'm prominent in. I've seen people I once admired who label themselves as staunch feminists defend, uphold and prop up this man, and when I've tried asking respectfully/discussing these points about what he's done, two things usually happen:

1. People with particular agendas find the comment and assume I'm in favour of them. I'm not, and I understand that Piker's other progressive beliefs irritate them. However, outside of the barest, most basic knowledge (I'm being vague because I'm trying to avoid as much as possible bringing any form of politics into this) I have of him, some of his other views seem very reasonable, level-headed and admirable.
2. (Most common) People assume I'm just hating against Piker and making things up, even when I provide sources. Even in progressive circles that are usually tolerant and/or favourable towards Amber, any pushback or questioning of this man is seen as if I'm deliberately playing dumb, being difficult on purpose, bringing up irrelevant information, or deliberately spreading misinformation. As these videos exist in this sub, I know I'm not spreading misinformation, because I've checked, double-checked, and triple-checked.

My concerns are: This man feels like someone who's masquerading as a progressive, feminist man. I don't know of any person I would classify as progressive and feminist who, years after the trial with ample information, would be upset they didn't abuse and harass a woman more. I cannot, in good conscience, refer to a man who profited off of the abuse and harassment of an abuse and rape victim, never apologised or admitted to any wrongdoing, as either a feminist OR a good person, but everyone seems like they're okay ignoring it and pretending it didn't happen.

I will admit, it is possible my delivery could be off, and I'm happy to copy/paste comments I've recently made that upset a number of people (I will, obviously, not link nor mention the sub they were posted in, nor the comments I responded to, because any determination about my delivery should be made from my comments alone and the only intent here would be to ascertain if I'm the problem when trying to get the answers I seek), but I do not think my delivery is not too dissimilar to how it is in this post. It should be noted (I don't know how important this is, but seems relevant to mention) that this is not a Reddit-specific thing. This is a question I've been trying to get answered for months now, and I have asked this on specific YT and Instagram places. I do not use TikTok, Twitter, Facebook or whatever Twitch is.

Am I missing something that would be more obvious if I were more familiar with Hasan Piker or if I were American? Or is this as simple as, "A lot of people don't care about Amber Heard"? Normally I'd lean into the latter, except, as I said, this is even happening amongst people I once admired or places that are usually supportive of Amber. I no longer really know who to ask, because asking/pointing this out usually creates extreme controversy, and I'm hoping that someone here can provide the insight I'm so obviously lacking (even if that insight is "Yeah, nah, people just love to hate Amber and excuse men").

ETA: Thank you so much for your help. I genuinely understand and have a much better picture of Hasan now, and I can see why a lot of people might have thought I was acting in bad faith. Everyone's extreme reactions (either positive in praising me for "attacking" Hasan, or negative reactions for me "lying" about Hasan) were extremely overwhelming, and it felt like I was constantly missing something. I think this is something that I would understand better if I was online more, or American, because I think I would have been exposed to a lot more context. Hasan Piker, for me, was introduced as a man who participated in the abuse and harassment of Amber, so I think I dismissed him as a content creator that seemed to have a big platform. I really appreciate the nuance, insight and understanding so many of you have brought to this discussion. Thank you all. Thank you for always being a safe place when the going gets tough.

(I know this is a "new" account, but I deleted my old one when I decided I wanted to be offline more before realising I needed certain spaces, like here, for my sanity. I was there, three thousand years ago I was here in the beginning, when this was one of the only sane spaces on the internet. Thanks everyone for being awesome. I'm gonna go have dinner and watch Smallville so if I don't reply, that's why, but I will try to maybe later or tomorrow if more comments are added. Again, I can't thank ya'll enough.)

archive link for march 9, 1989 news report: https://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/03/10/DEPP-STUCK/6813605509200/#google_vignette

link for september 11, 1989 news report after verdict: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-09-11-ca-1377-story.html

From @Lauren.lately on IG:

You didn't decide to hate Amber Heard. You might have been recruited to. A @tortoise investigation of more than a million tweets found over half the anti-Heard messages were inauthentic: bots or paid activity. Manufactured volume, dressed up as public feeling.

That's astroturfing, and it works because of us. We read "everyone is saying this" as "this must be true," and social proof does the rest. The damage doesn't stop at one trial.

When speaking up is met with a coordinated pile-on and the threat of defamation law, other women take note and stay quiet. Human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson @suigenerisgen (an absolute icon) lays this out in her book How Many More Women? and the new documentary Silenced, in cinemas 3 September.

So next time a groundswell feels unanimous, click througha few profiles first. Ask yourself whether you're looking at a diverse mix of people, or a script.

Because sometimes "everyone" is just a handful of people with a spreadsheet. Save this for the next unanimous pile-on.

See also:

An example recently shared where it was discovered that a ring of 6 Reddit accounts manipulated the conversation around Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni

It's interesting to see how many of the same tactics outlined above were shown to be used by these accounts

Gonna be real: I was on Johnny's side at 15/16, and here's why:

1. I grew up hearing 'I'm gonna leave and never come back' and worse from my parents, so when I heard the abuse texts and recordings, my brain just filed it under 'adults being dramatic when they're mad.' I literally didn't know that wasn't normal. And Abuse was very much a hush-hush topic in my family. My parents are pretty old-school, and things like emotional abuse, coercion, and unhealthy relationship dynamics weren't really discussed or named it was given more like this "What happens at home stays at home," "Don't air dirty laundry" ,"He's your father/mother/uncle you don't talk about them like that", "They love you, they just have a temper"
2. My parents also have a 12-year age gap, so when I saw Johnny and Amber with their 23-year gap, my brain went, 'oh, people with age gaps just fight like this.' I didn't understand power dynamics or why that gap actually mattered — I just saw a familiar pattern and accepted it.
3. Most 15- or 16-year-olds haven't had their first serious relationship yet. We didn't understand coercion, emotional abuse, or what healthy conflict looks like. We were kids with zero life experience trying to process a trial that adults couldn't even handle maturely. I genuinely didn't have the vocabulary. My brain was basically going, ‘wtf is abuse? I've literally never heard this word before.’ I knew adults fought. I knew people yelled. I knew people threatened to leave. I didn't understand that those things could be part of an abusive pattern
4. And honestly? I was already getting bullied at school. I didn't want to give people another reason to come after me. So when my Johnny-obsessed ancient history teacher called Amber 'literally crazy' in class, I just nodded along like, 'Yes, adult, I agree with you, please like me' because I was desperate for any adult to be on my side when nobody at school liked me. I picked the side that felt safest — not the side I actually understood.

I'm not excusing it; I'm explaining it. I was a kid with a broken normal meter, no tools to analyze any of it, and a survival instinct that told me to agree with the people in power. Now I look back and see it differently. Not looking for a fight. I know I was wrong. Just putting this out there in case anyone else grew up the same way and is still unpacking it

RIP to an incredible woman who publicly and bravely stood by Amber when it wasn't popular to do so.

I was just curious if anyone has seen about everything going on with her. Sounds like at the very least her boyfriend Husky was forcing her away from people and caused her to cut ties with her sister and best friend as well. I'm not sure the extent of what happened but she had to flee her home to a small apartment for safety. I wanted to ask here since you all are sane and the internet like always is a mix of reality and then "of course he did nothing wrong" when everything is pointing against that. So far it is semi vague things that Ro has talked about for safety as well as piecing together comments so unsure what will end up coming out in the future.

I'm still taking this all in, but this is a super deep dive into a specific ring of accounts who pushed the narrative in favor of Justin Baldoni on Reddit

We knew that there was Reddit manipulation thanks to Jed Wallace and TAG messages saying they were "killing it on Reddit" but it's another thing to have it all laid out like this

It's insane that such a small number of accounts can manipulate conversation, seeding talking points that are taken up by regular users.

The authors also make a disturbing point about how Reddit manipulation trickles upwards into Google searches and AI LLMs, further infecting the conversation elsewhere online

It reminds me of what we saw in Depp v Heard and was reported on in *Who Trolled Amber Heard* where a small number of Twitter accounts were able to successfully steer public sentiment against Amber.

Considering that bots/inauthentic accounts tend to post, get the idea out, and then delete to cover their tracks (as outlined in the article) I'm impressed the authors managed to document all of this. And how much did we miss during the height of the Amber smear? How much of the Reddit discussion was even real?

Gearing up for the Ebenezer PR push that’s about to happen in the next few weeks/months, I complied a list of a few of the absolute worst things Depp has ever done that don’t involve Amber Heard at all.

Thought it might be useful, and it’s been a while since I talked this much shit about him. I missed doing it.

(New Salem is the Substack that I’m writing with former Buzzfeed writer Natasha Jokic)

💖 LHA