Not Even Amber Heard Deserves Cancellation

Depp v. Heard revealed her for a monster. That doesn’t mean we should unperson her.

The spectacle of Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard came to a close on June 1 with a jury awarding Depp a total of $8.35 million in damages for defamation. For those who watched the trial in its entirety--as I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit I did--this is undoubtedly a just verdict. Heard failed to present any substantive evidence for her claims of abuse. Depp, however, provided more than enough evidence to paint Heard as both a liar and abuser, including multiple recordings of deranged audio in which she dares Johnny to "tell the world [that he is a victim of abuse]" and cackles maniacally.

In the wake of these revelations that Heard is no victim, and almost certainly chopped off Depp’s finger, it comes as no surprise that calls for her cancellation have swept across the Internet. A petition to remove her character from the upcoming Aquaman 2 has garnered over four million signatures. Whether Warner Bros. has buckled to this pressure or doubled down remains unclear.

The popular support for Johnny Depp has certainly made Heard toxic to large corporations. Film is a business of star power, and the studio is worried about the bottom line.

But is it right to remove her from Aquaman 2, over a trial about Johnny Depp?

It is true that Heard has already been paid her two million dollars for her work on the film. It’s also true that this cancellation would be for the crime of staging an enormous hoax to ruin a man's life and career, rather than mere speechcrimes like so many others.

Yet the movie has been made. Heard has shot her scenes. Warner Bros. cannot change the fact that she was meant to be in the film. We might think that she is monstrous, but Depp v. Heard ultimately had nothing to do with Aquaman 2.

The vindictive impulse to remove Heard from the Aquaman franchise is no different from the spite that underlies any other cancellation attempt. She has been identified as a “bad” person, and thus she must be punished extrajudicially for her wrongdoing.

But a price will be paid: about eight million dollars, as decided by a jury of her peers. That is Heard’s punishment. The rest of us have our own personal decision to make. We can skip her movies. We can ignore her (like we used to before this trial started). What purpose does plucking her from an extant film serve, except vengeance?

I don’t think I would like to befriend anyone who is still on Amber Heard’s side after the outcome of this trial. These people nevertheless exist. It is not your or my place to rob them of their power to support Heard or see her in this film or any other. The market will end her career. We don’t need to help.

Cancel Culture is wrong no matter who it comes for. It’s a fate no one deserves: not even Amber Heard.