BREAKING NEWS: Johnny Depp lost his libel case against The Sun

Date:

Johnny Depp has lost his libel lawsuit against the giant British tabloid The Sun for calling him a “wife beater” and damaging his career.

The article published by The Sun, a highly divisive and controversial British tabloid, sent Johnny Depp’s career spiralling after they printed a headline calling him a “wife beater.”

The 55-year-old actor, sued the tabloid over a slanderous article which claimed Johnny Depp had assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard. Reports show that Amber Heard colluded with several of her friends who worked for the tabloid to smear Johnny.

The trial lasted a total of 16 days during July at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

Johnny Depp fans respond to being called "bots" by Heard and The Sun
Johnny Depp and his attorney fighting a libel lawsuit against The Sun for calling him a “wife beater.”

The news broke when the director of legal affairs at The Sun tweeted “we won” in celebration of their victory against Johnny Depp.

However, a lot of people are baffled as to why Johnny Depp lost the trial considering that the British judge, Andrew Nicol, stated that the actor had “proven” his case and when he delivered his verdict.

The letter regarding the verdict states that although there is no evidence that Johnny Depp beat his ex-wife Amber Heard that the article was not libellous because they were simply retelling Amber Heard’s accounts.

[mv_video doNotAutoplayNorOptimizePlacement=”false” doNotOptimizePlacement=”true” jsonLd=”true” key=”b1er9w45wh6djselcopg” ratio=”16:9″ thumbnail=”https://mediavine-res.cloudinary.com/video/upload/b1er9w45wh6djselcopg.jpg” title=”Amber Heard Booed when arriving for 15th day of Depp vs. The Sun trial” volume=”70″]

The 128-page ruling penned by Justice Nicol reads “The claimant [Depp] has not succeeded in his action for libel … The defendants [the Sun and News Group Newspapers] have shown that what they published in the meaning which I have held the words to bear was substantially true.

He continues: “I have found that the great majority of alleged assaults of Ms Heard by Mr Depp have been proved to the civil standard.”

Strangely the judge accepted Heard’s evidence that her career had been gravely impacted by Johnny Depp. However, Heard has always been a C-list actress who was fortunate enough to score the role of Mera in DC’s Aquaman.

“I have reached these conclusions having examined in detail the 14 incidents on which the defendants rely as well as the overarching considerations which the claimant submitted I should take into account. In those circumstances, parliament has said that a defendant has a complete defence.”

The judge also out at Johnny Depp’s characterisation of his ex-wife as a gold-digger. “I recognise that there were other elements to the divorce settlement as well,” Nicol noted, “but her donation of … $7mto charity is hardly the act one would expect of a gold-digger”.

The next arm of the legal battle takes place in March 2021 when Depp and Heard go head-to-head in the Californian courts.

This news story is breaking. We will update it with more details as they become available. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

- Advertisement -
Verification: 0b7d225104f108aaa0e729050cb4fc1e