Photo Credit: Universal Pictures
I came to know Kat as the person behind a popular Instagram film editing account. I found one of her Johnny Depp edits, with a caption talking about the injustices done to him, which surprised me, as many pages had shied away from posting him. It just so happened that this was the day Johnny had announced his firing as Grindelwald: I saw her endless story posts on the situation, I swiped up to show my support of her raising awareness, and we started talking from there. I thought her perspective was invaluable to have, not only as a fan of films, but as a teenager watching the media she grew up believing in become so abhorrently corrupt and vilify a man who is innocent. Enjoy her passion and intelligence.
Isabella: Hi! Thank you so much for doing this, I am so excited to talk to you! Would you like to introduce yourself?
Kat: Hi! And thank you for wanting to interview me! I’m Kat, I just turned 16 and I’m from New York. I love film and the work that goes into them and I hope to one day be able to make movies of my own!
Isabella: How did you first hear about the case, and Johnny Depp in general? What were your thoughts, and whose side did you take?
Kat: Surprisingly, I only heard about this case in March of 2020, which is strange considering this entire situation has been going on for years. It was the beginning of quarantine and I was watching movies all day long and I decided to watch What’s Eating Gilbert Grape for the first time. Usually after watching a movie, I look up the actors involved just out of curiosity and when I looked up Johnny’s name, I was bombarded with articles about him and his ex-wife. The title of the article I remember seeing first was Johnny Depp Allowed to Pursue Defamation Suit Against Amber Heard. At this time, I had very little knowledge on who Amber was, I knew she was in Aquaman but that’s pretty much all. I didn’t consider myself a big Johnny Depp fan at this time, but if someone were to ask me who my favorite actor was (which until recently, was always a question I never had a definite answer to) I would probably say him, considering I’ve seen so many of his movies growing up. My very initial thoughts after seeing the headline of the article was something along the lines of 'wow, more Hollywood relationship drama'. The Variety article was pretty unbiased, shockingly, so I didn’t take anyone’s side until I started doing my own research shortly after. I feel like it’s a good thing that I found out about this situation in an unbiased way. Like I said before, I didn’t know who Amber was, so there was no reason for me to dislike her or think she was lying & with this I was able to form my own opinions based on the research I did afterwards.
Isabella: Was there a change in your perspective? What piece of evidence/moment was the thing to change your mind/confirm your beliefs?
Kat: After reading the first article about the case, I went to YouTube to see if there had been any videos of people discussing the situation further. I noticed a majority of the videos were from the channel ‘Incredibly Average’, so I started watching those to try and get more insight on the situation. After listening to just one audio recording, I was able to take a side, but obviously I wasn’t going to just stop doing research after one video, so I watched more of Incredibly Average’s videos (one of which being an hour long) and the more videos I watched, the more my heart broke for Johnny. Hearing him so calm while Amber was yelling at him, calling him a baby, telling him to grow up, admitting to throwing pots and pans - it was clear to me who the aggressor was. I know that no one will ever know every single thing that went on in their relationship, but hearing the difference in their tones when talking to each other was a very clear confirmation on who is abusive. Another thing that proved his innocence to me were his witness statements - more importantly the statements from his previous girlfriends, specifically Vanessa Paradis, for two reasons. One being that Vanessa and Johnny we’re together for 14 years, and she testified that he was never violent. It’s hard to believe that he would be capable of 12 acts of violence against Amber in a span of 5 years if he was never once abusive during the 14 years that him and Vanessa were together. Two, they separated in 2012, which is around the same time that he and Amber started dating. So if he wasn’t abusive in the years before he dated Amber, I don’t think he would instantly become violent. People don’t miraculously become abusive over night, there are patterns of behavior in people with abusive tendencies. Just like how Amber was arrested in 2009 for domestic violence against her girlfriend in an airport.
Isabella: As an editing page, how do you spread awareness of this case through your art and social media pages?
Kat: As an editing page, I think it’s very important and beneficial to talk about the case, considering the amount of bias in the media revolving around it. It’s very easy to see a news article and immediately form an opinion without any further research. I’ve received a lot of messages from people asking me to explain the situation to them, and I try to remain as informative and unbiased when explaining it to them. I don’t want to come across as trying to force an opinion on them, especially if they know nothing about the case, but hopefully they’re able to conduct their own research and form opinions based on that, rather than a news article that is very biased. One that only writes about Amber’s allegations without even mentioning the other side of the story. Posting Johnny Depp edits is also a more fun way to spread awareness and it involves editing, which, obviously, is what I love doing.
Isabella: I also wanted to shout you out here to thank you for encouraging me to write my article!
Kat: Aw thank you! I’m glad I was able to encourage you!!
Isabella: In this case, what do you believe is the most important aspect/the aspect that resonates with you the most in this case? (media manipulation, lack of justice in the system, awareness for male victims of domestic abuse, etc)
Kat: I feel like media manipulation and the lack of proper journalism is what resonates with me the most. It’s sickening to see huge news outlets being so biased on a situation like this. I wish they’d remain unbiased and simply report both sides equally, but instead they call Johnny “radioactive”, “implosive”, and even compared him to Harvey Weinstein when talking about his career being “over”, which I find completely inappropriate and highly inaccurate as well. It's upsetting to see big news outlets like The Hollywood Reporter completely defame Johnny while painting Amber to be a saint, despite her admitting to starting physical fights, cutting off his finger, etc. It’s so easy for someone who doesn’t know about this case to read the cover of that magazine and instantly think Johnny = abuser and Amber = victim. Another thing that resonates with me is how quick people are to judge Johnny for speaking out. I’ve seen a lot of people on social media saying things along the lines of “Well it’s his fault for suing The Sun. So it’s his fault he’s in this mess and he’s just making it worse,” which I find to be both ignorant and disrespectful because that’s nothing more than victim blaming. A media outlet called him a wife beater, which is something that he knows he isn’t, and on top of that, the article praised his own abuser. He has every single right to take action against that and fight for himself. With that being said, he’s so determined to fight for the truth, and that alone speaks a thousand words. If he knew he was guilty of all those things said about him, he could have simply backed away and accepted it. I don’t think he would go through all the time, money, effort and mental stress of fighting for justice if he didn’t think he was fully innocent.
Isabella: If you could say anything to people who are not convinced of Johnny’s innocence, believe Amber is not abusive, or still cling to a “mutual abuse” narrative, what would it be?
Kat: If I could say something to people who are not convinced of Johnny’s innocence, it would be to listen to the audio tapes (I just wanted to note: I’ve seen a lot of people on twitter saying that since the audios on ‘Incredibly Average’ were cut down for time, that they are edited and don’t show the whole story, and are therefore “not actual evidence”. Which I believe is inaccurate considering a lot of the full 2 hour audio that I listened to and read a transcript of was filled with a lot of silent pauses that wasn’t relevant to the situation - which is why Brian only took out the important sections). That is one of the major pieces of evidence that differentiate Amber and Johnny, and it's very clear to tell who the abuser is: several times, Amber is heard raising her voice, yelling, and cursing him out, while Johnny tries his best to remain calm rather than match her energy. Along with the audio tapes, watch Amber’s behavior in her deposition from 2016, where she is eating instead of answering questions, rolling her eyes at the lawyer asking questions, smirking while listening to herself admitting to hitting Johnny, and trying to justify her being physical by saying that Johnny was always dramatic. And also, being able to admit you’re wrong isn't the worst thing in the world. I’ve seen countless people on twitter apologize for supporting Amber, and saying that after listening to audio recordings and doing more research, they’ve changed their perspective on things.
Isabella: Do you have a favorite Johnny Depp film/role?
Kat: Edward Scissorhands will forever be my favorite Johnny film (and role). It’s one of my favorite movies in general. I saw someone on twitter comparing Johnny to Edward. Johnny and Edward were both gentle, misunderstood and loved by many, until one person took advantage of them & ruined their image and made them appear as dangerous and threatening.
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