The defamation suit between former spouses Johnny Depp and Amber Heard came to a close on Wednesday. The two accused one another of defamation and claimed the other abused them. The jury found that both defamed the other, but awarded Depp significantly higher damages—$15 million to Heard’s $2 million.
Conservatives online couldn’t be happier. They’d made the trial into a talisman for the #MeToo movement’s reckoning of the abuse and harassment disproportionately suffered by women at the hands of men.
The right-wing has grown increasingly resistant to the #MeToo movement. To them, Depp’s relative victory is much bigger than a single court case: It’s an indictment of #MeToo itself.
After the verdict was read, they wasted no time dancing on #MeToo’s grave. The chorus of cheers was especially strong from conservative women.
Right-wing commentator Ann Coulter didn’t mince words. “And thus ends the ‘#MeToo’ movement,” she tweeted moments after the announcement.
Former National Rifle Association spokesperson Dana Loesch was similarly blunt. “Amber Heard just destroyed ‘believe all women,’” Loesch wrote.
Even the Republican House Judiciary Committee couldn’t resist weighing in on the trial with a meme of Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean.
Similarly, jubilant reactions poured in across right-wing Twitter, with women like Jeanine Pirro and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) going hard for Depp, despite the number of instances of abuse Heard testified to on the stand.
Within minutes of the verdict, #MenToo started trending on Twitter.
Some even used the hashtag to troll Heard, who posted a statement about her disappointment in the outcome.
It’s unknown whether either party plans to appeal the verdict.
