: Amber Heards domestic violence op-ed aimed to capitalise on Aquaman press: ACLU #IndiaNEWS #Entertainment Los Angeles: The general counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) testified that

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Amber Heards domestic violence op-ed aimed to capitalise on Aquaman press: ACLU #IndiaNEWS #Entertainment
Los Angeles: The general counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) testified that actress Amber Heards op-ed about domestic violence was timed to capitalise on the release of Aquaman.
The op-ed alluded to Heards allegations against former husband and actor Johnny Depp, though the latter was not named, reports Variety.
Depp is now suing Heard for defamation, claiming that the op-ed destroyed his career and cost him the sixth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
The ACLU was involved in conceiving, drafting and placing the op-ed, which used Heards experiences to address issues including the Violence Against Women Act and sexual assault on college campuses.
At the trial on Thursday, Depps attorneys played a video deposition of Terence Dougherty, the ACLUs general counsel.
Dougherty was asked about a December 11, 2018, email from Jessica Weitz, the ACLUs director of artist engagement, in which she wrote about the timing of the piece.
The goal is to get this out this week to capitalize on the tremendous campaign for Aquaman, Weitz wrote.
Aquaman, in which Heard starred as Mera, was due to be released on December 21, 2018.
Dougherty explained that the publicity campaign for the film would help get more attention for the op-ed. Heard also agreed that the timing was important, he said.
From the ACLUs perspective, Amber is about to receive an incredible amount of press and be in the public eye, Dougherty said.
So what better a time would it be than now to put out this op-ed, so that it generates significant readership about our issues.
Depp alleges that Heard fabricated her abuse allegations and used them to advance her own career at his expense. Heard denies that, and her attorneys have argued that the #MeToo accusations have generally not helped the accusers careers.
Depp and Heard had issued a joint statement upon resolving their divorce in 2016, in which each denied making false allegations for financial gain.
They also agreed to issue no further public statements.
Depp has testified that he wanted to fight Heards claims at the time, but reluctantly took the advice of his lawyers to settle the case and move on.
Doughertys testimony included internal ACLU emails about the drafting of the op-ed.
Earlier drafts included explicit references to Heards restraining order, in which she alleged domestic violence, but those references were taken out on the advice of her lawyers.
In one email, Weitz wrote that Heard would love to see a way to have that part in bold somehow put back in. In the final draft, Heard described herself as having been a public figure representing domestic abuse, but did not go into any further detail about her relationship with Depp.