Elon Musk And The ACLU Have Been Subpoenaed In Johnny Depp’s $50M Defamation Case Against Amber Heard
In the ongoing and ever-expanding files of celebrity fuckery and bewildering decisions, Johnny Depp and his legal team are now bringing us the next installment of “Please make this shit-slinging, abusive dumpster fire stop, you uncontainable, ambulant piles of frothing, gurgling ooze.” On this week’s chalkboard menu is the subpoenaing of both billionaire Elon Musk and the ACLU in Johnny’s $50 million defamation case against ex-wife and alleged, stealth bed-pooper, Amber Heard. Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, Johnny and his lawyers are seeking to appeal the UK High Court’s decision that he was not libeled by The Sun when they called him a “wife beater.”
Deadline has the details on Elon and the ACLU getting subpoenaed:
A little over three months before the trial in Johnny Depp’s $50 million defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard is set to finally start, the pink-slipped Fantastic Beasts actor wants Elon Musk and the American Civil Liberties Union to be pulled into the case.
As Depp awaits a hearing in the UK next month on his hopes for an appeal in his losing libel suit late last year against tabloid The Sun for calling him a “wife beater,” his U.S. attorneys have issued subpoenas for the SpaceX billionaire, the nonprofit group First Amendment and its Foundation arm. Now facing a $100 million counterclaims case from his Rum Diary co-star, Team Depp wants Musk and the ACLU entities to sit for depositions in the matter, as well as hand over relevant documentation of their interactions with Heard.
Elon dated Amber off and on after (or was it earlier?) her 2016 breakup with Johnny and would likely have heard a thing or two about their relationship. So Elon and his past conversations with Amber are being dragged into the defamation case (surely they spent the bulk of their time together absorbed in scholarly discussion about deep space). The ACLU was one of the promised recipients of a portion of Amber’s $7 million settlement in her divorce from Johnny, though apparently they have yet to receive the full amount promised. Both Elon and the ACLU are being asked to hand over relevant documentation of their interactions with Amber.
Amber’s initial pledge of support prompted them to name her an ACLU Ambassador for women’s rights, and they publicly thanked her for her generosity. After Amber’s 2018 Washington Post op-ed on being a survivor of domestic violence (in which she never named Johnny Depp) was published, the ACLU reposted this piece that started the whole legal battle.
In a reversal of fortune, this ACLU subpoena comes a year and a half after the Virginia chapter of the 121-year old free speech organization attempted to file an amicus brief in the lawsuit and become a consultant on the case. At the time in the fall of 2019, Depp’s team rejected that request because they thought Heard and the ACLU were too chummy.
However, with the ACLU having since turned a blind eye to previous subpoena attempts, Heard’s main lawyer Elaine Bredehoft diplomatically admitted last month that her client has been “delayed” in making her full charitable contributions, as promised.
This is seen as vital in the UK case, where Heard’s character and donations were a pivotal part in Judge Andrew Nicol’s reasoning to damningly find against Depp. Not long after that verdict was revealed in London, Depp was axed from the Fantastic Beasts franchise by Warner Bros. and knocked well off his A-list perch.
Neither Musk nor the ACLU responded to requests from Deadline on their respective subpoenas. Right now, after several delays from Covid-19 lockdowns and other matters, the trial is set to start on May 17 in Virginia’s Fairfax County.
As far as the UK case, Amber Heard’s legal team will need to file reasons for opposing the appeal by February 21, while Johnny’s team will be able to respond by February 28. Johnny’s lawyers claim that he did not receive a fair trial. A hearing is scheduled to take place between March 15 and March 31.
The Virginia trial is set to begin on May 17, preceded by hearings to determine certain details.
SpaceX’s Elon is a busy man, so this new demand on his time and energy could really put a crimp in his daily schedule of trying to remember the name of the baby he and Grimes just had together and insisting it’s not some try-hard hipster-geek load of WTF. While we’re all placing bets on how old the kid will be when they file for a legal name change, we’re also staying tuned for the next round of Johnny and Amber’s poop-slinging showdown. Watch this space.
Pic: Wenn.com