Donald Trump Jr has been attacked for his take on the defamation trial opposing Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.
“Maybe the most telling part of the Amber Turd trial is that not a single man seems to have come out in her defense saying she’s great,” Mr Trump Jr tweeted on 28 May.
The former president’s son’s remarks sparked backlash on the platform, with critics condemning the fact that he felt the need to weigh in at all.
“All this medieval play was lacking, was a court jester,” one Twitter user responded.
Another said, “men love having a woman they can throw [their] misogyny at without any backlash”.
“Something highly predictable is happening,” yet another critic wrote. “Why would someone’s approval have more weight than a case with extensive proof? Why does someone have to be considered ‘great’ (by a man?) to be innocent of defamation? They are bringing out the big guns with this scampaign (sic).”
Annoyance over Mr Trump Jr’s tweet came as a jury continues deliberations in the defamation trial between the two Hollywood heavyweights in Fairfax, Virginia.
Mr Depp is arguing that Ms Heard defamed him in a December 2018 op-ed published in The Washington Post titled “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change”.
In her op-ed, Ms Heard wrote that “like many women, I had been harassed and sexually assaulted by the time I was of college age. But I kept quiet — I did not expect filing complaints to bring justice. And I didn’t see myself as a victim”.
“Then two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out,” she added at the time.
While Mr Depp isn’t named in the piece, his legal team argues that it contains a “clear implication that Mr Depp is a domestic abuser”, which they say is “categorically and demonstrably false”. Mr Depp is seeking damages of “not less than $50m”.
Ms Heard has filed a $100m counterclaim against Mr Depp for nuisance and immunity from his allegations.
