After a authorized submitting introduced ahead new particulars of abuse allegations made by Angelina Jolie in opposition to her ex-husband Brad Pitt, Jolie has change into the most recent celeb girl to face on-line assaults within the type of comparability to actor Amber Heard, based on a evaluate of on-line movies and feedback about Jolie performed by NBC Information.
The accounts focusing on Jolie are a part of what a home violence researcher and an teacher in unconscious bias say is a development of misogynistic stereotypes geared toward high-profile girl accusers. As beforehand reported by NBC Information, those that put up movies attacking Heard are incentivized by the 1000’s to hundreds of thousands of views they obtain on social media and the cash that may typically comply with that.
Heard’s authorized battle and trial together with her ex-husband, actor Johnny Depp, sparked its personal wave of social media content material that not solely shamed and mocked Heard however included false allegations about her and viral clips from the trial taken out of context. Now, social media creators and audiences are evaluating Jolie to Heard, as evidenced by tons of of feedback NBC Information discovered on Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube that questioned her allegations of abuse. Representatives for Jolie and Pitt didn’t reply to NBC Information’ requests for remark.
For Jolie, the assaults got here after she filed a countersuit in opposition to Pitt on Oct. 4, alleging that he dedicated “bodily and emotional abuse of her and their youngsters.” Within the countercomplaint, Jolie described a violent 2016 experience on a non-public airplane throughout which she mentioned “Pitt choked one of many youngsters and struck one other within the face.” She mentioned the incident led to her submitting for divorce days after the journey.
A consultant for Pitt beforehand supplied a press release to NBC Information denying the allegations and saying Pitt received’t “personal something he didn’t do” in court docket.
The civil swimsuit at hand, filed by Pitt in February, is over Jolie’s sale of her a part of their French vineyard. However the abuse allegations made by Jolie in her countercomplaint are what have taken middle stage on-line, the place a yearslong tradition battle has been waged between #MeToo motion supporters and detractors.
This yr, that battle went mainstream, catching the eye of hundreds of thousands of viewers on-line through the civil trial involving Depp and Heard.
Heard turned an web obsession through the Virginia jury trial, during which she was discovered answerable for defaming Depp after she recognized herself as a sufferer of home abuse in a 2018 op-ed in The Washington Put up. Heard was ordered to pay $10.3 million in damages. Depp was additionally discovered to have defamed Heard and was ordered to pay $2 million in damages.
The choice was celebrated by legions of Depp followers and supporters, whereas victims’ advocacy organizations warned that it might have a chilling impact on survivors talking up about abuse. Heard filed her grounds of enchantment on Tuesday, citing an absence of “clear and constant proof” of precise malice and an “inherently and irreconcilably inconsistent” jury choice that every celebration had defamed the opposite.
The Depp v. Heard trial was largely digested on social media, particularly on such video platforms as TikTok and YouTube, which hosted creators who raked in views and tons of of 1000’s of {dollars} by pivoting to pro-Depp, anti-Heard content material.
“The issues we noticed, the memes, the clips of the trial, they have been overwhelmingly going in opposition to Amber Heard. They overwhelmingly portrayed her as this femme fatale, as this untrustworthy particular person,” Adrienne Lawrence, a media persona and former litigator, mentioned.
Now, creators and audiences on social media are making use of an analogous lens to Jolie’s allegations in opposition to Pitt, and different ladies’s allegations on-line.
NBC Information discovered 12 YouTube channels straight evaluating Jolie with Heard in titles and thumbnails. The smallest channel to take action has barely greater than 5,000 subscribers, whereas the biggest, a Spanish language popular culture channel, has greater than 3.2 million subscribers. On common, the movies obtained greater than 20,000 views every.
A number of the movies characterised Jolie as a liar in titles and thumbnails, whereas others requested whether or not she is utilizing “Amber Heard techniques” or is “the following” Heard. A number of the YouTubers targeted on the authorized case, suggesting it could possibly be “the following Depp v. Heard.”
One channel, known as Simply In, has in contrast Heard and Jolie within the titles of no less than 5 movies, and beforehand appeared to put up a job advert on the freelance web site Upwork in August, Vice Information reported, looking for a researcher to create content material that “goes in opposition to Amber Heard and helps Johnny Depp.” NBC Information seen the itemizing, which has since been faraway from Upwork. The channel, which has 269,000 subscribers and greater than 350 million views, continuously posts movies with deceptive or sensationalized statements.
Prior to now 24 hours, a video was posted with the title “Gisele Bündchen FINALLY Reveals What Tom Brady Did To Trigger The Divorce,” referring to the reported steps the celeb couple has taken to doubtlessly finish their marriage. Regardless of the title’s suggestion that Bündchen had issued an in depth assertion, the one assertion the video refers to from Bündchen is an emoji remark she left on a put up from another person in regards to the nature of relationships.
One other video posted up to now day says within the title that it exhibits Heard smiling when requested about “beating Johnny.” Within the precise video clip, Heard smiles after a paparazzi asks what she thinks about individuals who don’t consider “that Johnny beat you.” The channel didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
In keeping with Lawrence, who teaches programs in unconscious bias, Heard’s remedy on-line was instructive to many individuals as to how different ladies could be handled in public.
“It was already thought that the MeToo motion was unfair to males, unfair to people who’re being held accountable for his or her conduct, and having instances like Amber Heard’s and the best way it was handled within the public realm of social media and within the media, it creates extra avenues to doubt ladies who come ahead in opposition to highly effective males,” Lawrence mentioned.
Different ladies labeled “Amber 2.0” vary from authorities employees to comparatively unknown assault victims. Former White Home aide Cassidy Hutchinson was labeled “Amber Heard 2.0,” and the phrase trended on Twitter after she testified about former President Donald Trump’s alleged actions through the Jan. 6 Capitol assault. Hutchinson didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Defenders of singer Marilyn Manson, a detailed buddy of Depp’s, have referred to his ex-partner Evan Rachel Wooden as “Amber 2.0” or the “sequel” to Heard in YouTube movies, one in every of which has 100,000 views. In 2021 Wooden accused Manson, whose actual title is Brian Warner, of rape and abuse all through their relationship. Manson denies the allegations and is suing Wooden for defamation in Los Angeles.
Emma Katz, a U.Okay. home abuse researcher and creator of “Coercive Management in Youngsters’s and Mom’s Lives,” mentioned that the best way high-profile ladies are handled once they come ahead with accusations of abuse displays how accusations made by noncelebrity ladies are obtained.
“Survivors throughout our society, regardless of whether or not they’re rich or disadvantaged, regardless of who they’re, they’re nonetheless being seen with a substantial amount of suspicion,” mentioned Katz. She went on to say that, regardless of false allegations being uncommon, victims who make allegations of home and sexual violence and abuse are first judged on their credibility somewhat than the accused being judged on their historical past and propensity to commit violence.
For instance, in Katz’s opinion, Jolie has been judged on her “wild baby” repute from her youth, whereas Pitt isn’t judged on his willingness to work with now-disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein on two motion pictures, regardless of realizing about a few of Weinstein’s conduct. Pitt mentioned in 2019 that he had confronted Weinstein in 1995 over Weinstein’s remedy of Gwyneth Paltrow, however Pitt continued to work with Weinstein on motion pictures launched in 2009 and 2012.
“Though in some methods there’s been some progress in making ladies extra equal in society, this suspicion round ladies and their credibility and their trustworthiness, these items have by no means gone away in 2,000 years or extra, and so they’re nonetheless so current in our responses to any high-profile girl who speaks out,” Katz mentioned.
