As the jury in Amber Heard’s defamation trial with her ex-husband Johnny Depp continues to deliberate, a petition demanding that DC Warner Bros. withdraw her from the role of Queen Mera in Aqaman 2 has surpassed 4.4 million signatures.
During their multimillion-dollar legal battle, Heard was allegedly “exposed as a domestic abuser by Johnny Depp,” according to the petition.
Over 4.4 million people have signed the petition so far, falling just short of the 4.5 million signature goal.
If the petition receives 4.5 million signatures, it will be one of Change.org’s most popular.
It comes as the jury evaluating Depp and Heard’s defamation allegations is slated to begin deliberations today after failing to reach a decision on Tuesday in the closely watched six-week trial.
Before departing for the long Memorial Day weekend, the seven-member civil jury heard closing arguments Friday and deliberated for approximately two hours. On Tuesday, the jury deliberated for another seven hours.
They’ll continue discussions in Fairfax County Circuit Court on Wednesday.
Depp is suing Heard for $50 million, alleging that she libeled him in a 2018 op-ed in which she referred to herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” After his lawyer dismissed her charges as a fraud, Heard filed a $100 million counterclaim against the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ star. Each accuses the other of sabotaging their own careers.
During the six-week trial, witnesses testified about a litany of gruesome events from their brief marriage. Depp allegedly abused Heard more than a dozen times, according to Heard.
Depp claimed that he never struck Heard, that she invented the abuse charges, and that she was the one who physically assaulted him many times during his testimony.
During closing arguments, both sides assured the jury that a favorable decision would return their clients’ lives to them.
Depp’s lawyers urged Judge Penney Azcarate on Tuesday to tell the jury to dismiss a piece of Heard’s attorney’s closing statement.
Depp’s lawyers said in their written motion that Heard’s counsel informed the jury that the case’s outcome would send a message to ‘every victim of domestic abuse everywhere.’ A verdict against Heard, according to Heard’s attorney Benjamin Rottenborn, “sends a message that no matter what you do as an abuse victim, you always have to do more.”
‘In order for others to trust you, you have to appear perfect, no matter how honest you are about your own inadequacies and flaws in a relationship.’ ‘Don’t transmit that message,’ urged Rottenborn.
Rottenborn’s argument, according to Depp’s lawyers, wrongly pushed the jury to focus on a greater social goal than the issue they were being asked to resolve.
‘Such an argument by Ms. Heard’s counsel urges the jury to determine the case ‘based on passion and prejudice,’ and a particular jury instruction is required to remedy this impropriety,’ Depp’s lawyers said.
The judge told Depp’s lawyers in court that she would not grant the motion because the case was still before the jury.
A request for comment on the motion was not immediately returned by Heard’s public relations agency.