The week in the Patriarchate
The actor, who joked about drowning and burning his then-wife Amber Heard, was the star of Cannes and has bagged $20 million selling perfume
Sat 20 May 2023 at 2pm BST
Here’s Johnny! The King of Cannes and Cologne
Johnny Depp seems to be on top of the world. Almost a year after winning a dirty libel case against his ex-wife Amber Heard, the actor’s career is in full swing. His latest film, Jeanne du Barry, opened the Cannes Film and received a seven-minute standing ovation. His face can be seen all over Paris on billboards promoting the film. And to top it off, he just signed a record three-year, $20 million deal to remain the face of Dior men’s fragrance Sauvage. To put this deal in context, Robert Pattinson was paid $12 million to serve as Dior Homme’s spokesperson, according to Variety — and most A-listers on fragrance deals are reportedly making around $2 million to $4 million a year . Depp is the king of Cologne, so to speak.
What has Heard done since the trial? Basically, you should hold back. After Heard was relentlessly berated by Depp fans and conservative media throughout the court case, it appears Heard has relocated from the US to Spain. She is reportedly taking a temporary break from acting. And as far as I can tell, nobody gave her $20 million to advertise perfume.
When De Niro has a baby at 79, it’s time to give older moms some leniency Arwa Mahdawi
To recap, a man emerged from a domestic violence trial with a career that’s not just intact, but thriving. However, the woman involved in the case fled the country after being brutally mistreated. Sounds like an incredibly familiar story, doesn’t it? Sounds like a story as old as time.
If Depp lost the defamation case, would things be very different? Would Heard be the star of town and would Depp be in hiding while his reputation lies in tatters? I doubt it. Let’s not forget that the actor lost a UK defamation case against the Sun in 2020 after the paper called him a “wife beater”. (The UK, incidentally, is notoriously pro-plaintiffs in defamation cases.) In the decision, the judge, Mr Justice Nicol, said: “I have found that the vast majority of Mr Depp’s alleged attacks on Ms Heard have been post proven to civil standard.” He added that he accepts Heard’s evidence that the allegations she made against Depp “had a negative impact on her career as an actress and activist.”
The fact that Depp was essentially called a “wife beater” by a British court didn’t hurt his relationship with Dior Sauvage, who has been at the actor’s side since 2015. And the lawsuit in the US has obviously only strengthened their partnership. Three months after winning the defamation lawsuit, the perfume brand was busy sharing posts on Instagram with captions like “Profound and authentic.” Johnny Depp embodies the intoxicating magic of Sauvage.”
Profound and authentic? Depp may have won his US lawsuit, but who can forget the misogyny that reigned supreme in it? Who can forget the viciousness of the text he sent to a friend in 2013 joking about killing Heard? “Let’s burn Amber,” he wrote in this text. “Let’s drown them before we burn them!!! I’ll fuck her burned corpse afterwards to make sure she’s dead.” This wasn’t a one-off joke made in bad taste; Depp routinely described women in crude, misogynistic terms. In texts presented to the jury, Depp described women as “sluts” and “fat ugly whores.” In one text, he called Heard a “filthy whore” and said he would “beat that ugly cunt around” before letting her in; in another, he described his former partner Vanessa Paradis as a “withered cunt”. And then there was the time he described Heard as a “gold-digging, cheap, cheap, squishy, pointless, dangling, overused floppy fish market.” Profound and authentic!
Do you think a perfume company would throw money at a woman if she made all those comments? I have a funny feeling the answer is no.
It would be wrong to say that Depp has survived his lawsuits completely unscathed. He was dropped from US film studios following the “wife beater” case and his presence at Cannes sparked controversy. Still, his general reception at Cannes and his Dior deal made it very clear that his career will go well and he will almost certainly be fully rehabilitated. And that shouldn’t surprise anyone. As we’ve seen time and time again, misogyny and allegations of abuse are rarely a detriment to a man’s career. Allegations of sexual misconduct didn’t stop Clarence Thomas or Brett Kavanaugh from becoming Supreme Court justices. They didn’t stop Donald Trump from becoming president — they might even have helped. During E. Jean Carroll’s Trump defamation trial, she was asked why she didn’t make her allegations public when Trump first ran for president. “I noticed that the more women came forward to accuse him, the better he did in the polls,” she replied. Misogyny rarely ruins a man’s career; often it charges it.
Deutsche Bank agrees to pay $75 million to settle lawsuit against Jeffrey Epstein
Deutsche Bank took Epstein on as a client in 2013 after he was dumped by JP Morgan. They even took him in when 40 underage girls accused him of sexual assault and kept the relationship going until 2018.
Women wear “subway t-shirts” over their outfits to avoid harassment
On a sunny day, a baggy t-shirt will keep the goosebumps away.
Lesbian and bisexual women may have poorer heart health
A new study builds on previous research showing that LGBT adults face significant psychosocial pressures that impact their cardiovascular health. LGBT adults are also less likely to access health care and are more likely to delay treatment than heterosexual adults
Fox News host Jesse Watters suggests a TV show where old men date young women
Jesse Watters is keen on a version of The Bachelor where the man is “65 and all the other women.” [are] young”. Is that what you mean by conservative family values?
‘Sexist’ barely legal beer withdrawn from craft beer festival
Not only was the beer called Barely Legal, but it was also branded similar to PornHub. The brewery behind has apologized, saying it meant “lighthearted”. Jayne Lewis, co-founder of Australia’s first women-owned brewery, called the name inappropriate. “[I]It glorifies the sexualization of minors and young women, which for us is inappropriate and has no place, especially in relation to an 18.1% alcohol beer.”
The week in Pawtriarchy
A dog named Rocky recently climbed England’s highest mountain, Scafell Pike, but then refused to come down. Thirteen volunteers came to the rescue and carried poor Rocky down. “Although it was a fairly large dog at 33kg, it was a pleasure to carry such a relatively light victim,” a spokesman said. Rocky “remained cool, calm and downright regal the entire time.”
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