Johnny Depp launched his explosive libel trial over “spouse beater” allegations to prove he was not a part of the “rogues’ gallery of abusers” like Harvey Weinstein, his lawyers mentioned Tuesday.
The 57-year-old “Pirates Of The Caribbean” star is suing The Solar newspaper over a 2018 headline that branded him a “spouse beater,” allegations he vehemently denies.
The story additionally lumped him “into the identical class of Harvey Weinstein and invoke #MeToo and Time’s Up actions,” his authorized staff mentioned in a written doc submitted on the ultimate day of his UK case.
“The Claimant is included within the rogues’ gallery of abusers that the #MeToo and Time’s Up actions are campaigning in opposition to, cited in the identical breath as Harvey Weinstein who had turn out to be infamous by then for having dedicated quite a few heinous assaults on ladies,” the courtroom doc states of the UK paper’s story.
Film mogul Weinstein was in March sentenced to 23 years in jail for rape and sexual assault and nonetheless faces additional fees.
The Solar made the hyperlink to Weinstein to guarantee “no reader is in any doubt as to the seriousness” of the allegations it was making in opposition to Depp — and to ship the message that “society ought to condemn” him, the submitting said.
Considered one of Weinstein’s accusers, actress Katherine Kendall, instructed London’s Excessive Courtroom earlier within the trial that she felt “misquoted and misused” within the article to make it look like the #MeToo motion condemned Depp.
Depp’s lawyer, David Sherborne, additionally beforehand complained within the trial that the paper made “deliberate and extremely topical references to the #MeToo and Time’s Up actions” in addition to to Weinstein.
“That is why he has come right here – to clear his status,” he mentioned, insisting the case is not about cash however “vindication.”
The submitting was submitted on what is anticipated to be the ultimate day of the three-week trial, with Sherborne making his summation. The decide, Mr. Justice Nicol, will then take time to attain his choice to be launched later.
With Submit wires
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