If you’ve been visiting Twitch lately, you might have noticed this the most popular “Just Chatting” category and the front page was dominated by one thing: The defamation trial between actors Amber Heard and Johnny Depp. What began as a court battle on April 11 over a toxic relationship riddled with abuse and trauma has since attracted top streamers like her Pokemon and xQcwho react to the process – and remember it. In other words, streaming the dork v. Heard Lawsuits have become a growing trend on Amazon’s proprietary platform for creators big and small to maximize their viewership, with some capitalizing on the “entertainment value” of the lewd allegations.
Depp and Heard have a history together as they were married from 2015 to 2017 before splitting. After their split, Heard accused Depp of abuse throughout their marriage and shared parts of that trauma in a 2018 Washington Post op ed without naming him explicitly. Since then, the two have hurled multimillion-dollar lawsuits at each other, leading to the defamation lawsuit that began on September 11.
There’s a lot to analyze in the process, from harrowing stories of physical and sexual violence to very intimate details about drug addiction. Alongside these serious issues, the process was punctuated by unexpected trivia, such as: a testimonial from a guy who vaped while driving and Depp doodles during the proceedings. Alongside the seriousness of the defamation case, there is a humorous element that streamers have inserted into. Many of the top stations on Amazon’s own platform, from Impressive Amateur Asmongold to socialist political commentator Hasanabihave streamed the case to tens, sometimes hundreds of thousands of followers, creating content for their audience to consume ad nauseam.
This has become the new meta, with streamers attracting thousands of viewers. Content creators on Twitch have included both actors’ names in their titles to attract curious viewers, opting for variations like “Justice for…” whichever side they’re on, and “Amber Heard vs. Johnny Depp Watch Party.” decided. And as streamers lure people in to watch the process with them, it risks becoming one big watch party of laughs and memes at the expense of trauma. Streamers like Pokimane had on-screen counters that tracked certain behaviors in court, such as: B. Heard crying or Depp laughing. Others below Rainbow Six Siege Streamer shortyyguydiscussed their conversations about the credits of the two actors — particularly Heard’s testimonies.
Streamers might be using this cultural event to grow their following, but some viewers — and other channelscorresponding launcher Reporter and former my box Staff Nathan Grayson – weren’t very keen on the process becoming one “lower expense” content mill. People went to Twitter express their dissatisfaction In the seeming madness of dork v. Heard Defamation case is considered one type “sporting event” on Twitch where streamers pick one side and ruin the other. As of now, people seem to be siding with Depp.
Richard Hoeg, an attorney specializing in digital and video game law and creator of the Virtual Legality YouTube Channelexplained my box via email is one of the reasons people fall in love with it dork v. Heard Study.
“Almost everyone knows Johnny Depp from either his more avant-garde work or his late Disney renaissance,” said Hoeg, who himself streamed the trial with fellow YouTubers like California-based attorney Alyte Mazeika Legal bytes as part of a collective known colloquially as LawTube. “From there, the actual details are more salacious than usual for even a case of this nature, with cocaine, MDMA, alcohol, severed fingers, bloody writing on walls, hours of intimate audio clips, and two mutually exclusive descriptions of the world all vying for attention.” . Outside of the OJ Simpson trial, we may not have seen a case with such a powerful combination of celebrity and lewdness.”
While he “doesn’t think the trial was staged as a farce,” despite its many comical moments, he worries streamers could spread misinformation.
“I think there’s always a fear that when people are covering a news story, they might be doing it in a way that lowers the level of good information out there, rather than enhancing it,” Hoeg said. “That’s why Virtual Legality and Legal Bytes work so hard to inform (and entertain) from the position of the legal professional. I also think there is a risk in terms of propriety from some quarters. This is a real case, with very serious allegations from both sides, and some tend to treat it more like a soap opera or sporting event than a court case. But with that risk comes opportunity and I really think that’s the future of “entertainment” like this. Unfiltered streams of real-world events with commentators to help people understand what they’re watching.”
That dork v. Heard The process will take a brief hiatus from May 9, but plans to reconvene on May 16 with an expected end date of May 27.
