Gayle King Doesn't Hold Back Her Feelings About The Amber Heard Johnny Depp Trial
Given how Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's defamation trial has dominated the news cycle, it's unsurprising that even fellow celebs have weighed in. Drew Barrymore "drew" some ire after she opined on "The Drew Barrymore Show" that the trial has been "a seven-layer dip of insanity" (via Vanity Fair), adding that she couldn't believe Depp and Heard were "actually offering up this information that nobody had to know." With some perceiving Barrymore's comments as dismissive of the topic of domestic abuse, she apologized via an Instagram video, calling this "a teachable moment."
Hot takes on the trial from famous voices didn't stop there, however. During a May comedy gig, Chris Rock, a recent assault victim himself, launched into a routine lampooning Heard for allegedly defecating in her and Depp's marital bed (via the Independent). "Believe all women, believe all women .... except Amber Heard," Rock said, in addition to one-liners like, "Once you s**t in someone's bed, you just guilty of everything." Rock received some critical backlash, but not nearly as much as ex-'NSYNCer Lance Bass after he mocked some of Heard's testimony in a TikTok performance. Receiving negative comments on social media, Bass has since deleted the vid.
Although it seems in celebs' best interest to stay out of the messy courtroom drama, talk show icon Gayle King has now given her two cents.
Gayle King deems Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's trial lose-lose
"It's all very sad to me," Gayle King said of the ongoing Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial. Hitting the red carpet at The Hollywood Reporter's Annual Most Powerful People in New York Media event, King told Entertainment Tonight of the televised trial, "I don't know how anybody wins in that case. I really don't."
King's "CBS Mornings" co-hosts, Nate Burleson and Tony Dokoupil, were also on hand and were likewise confused by the live-streamed nature of the legal drama. Dokoupil theorized that the defamation case has become the biggest media courtroom spectacle since O.J. Simpson's trial "because no one's been quite crazy enough to make it all televised." As Dokoupil added, "Johnny Depp fought for this, remember. I don't know why ... And we'll be talking about it yet again tomorrow, along with everybody else in America."
According to IndieWire, Heard and her legal team allegedly tried to prevent the trial from being televised, while Depp's team did not make light of the situation. However, cameras or not, it seems as if Heard and Depp's issues transcend the television screen. As Depp testified when asked the reason he sued Heard for defamation (via Vanity Fair), he said, "It was the only time that I was able to speak and use my own voice."
Legal experts agree that the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial will have no winners
Gayle King is no attorney, but legal experts seem to agree with her statement that "nobody wins" in the trial between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp, no matter who the jury chooses to side with in the end.
"No matter who wins, there are truly no winners," legal analyst Dr. Jill Huntley Taylor told Entertainment Weekly. "This is a case of a toxic relationship, and no one is coming out of it unscathed, regardless of whether monies change hands." But she did say that Depp's A-list status and natural charisma "may have ingratiated him with jurors."
Meanwhile, entertainment lawyer and founder of Romano Law Domenic Romano also told Nicki Swift that both parties have essentially tainted themselves throughout the series of hearings, with nearly everything out in the open. "Both sides have painted a portrait of a very combustible relationship. Amber Heard is trying to establish a pattern of physical, verbal and even sexual abuse, at the hands of Johnny Depp. She is also providing testimony about his drug and alcohol use and aiming to paint a picture of a man out of control," he pointed out. "Depp, for his part, has pled himself the victim of abuse, both in his childhood and again, in his marriage and relationship with Amber."
Fans question why Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's trial is being televised
Much like how Gayle King's colleague questioned why the trial is being live-streamed in the first place, fans also expressed confusion about the very public nature of the hearings. Many took to Twitter to say the case should have never been made available for public consumption.
"Imma say it again the Depp/Heard trial should not be televised people shouldn't be picking teams like they're watching a football game people should not be making fan edits thank you," one fan proclaimed. "The Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial being televised has set us back man. What the heck am I seeing on YouTube, TikTok, and even on Twitter," tweeted another. "the way the depp herd trials are televised and the morbid interest in which people have in it is so f*****g weird to me. y'all can't leave them resolve this privately? you don't know them, you cannot possibly know what's true just by watching true crime dramas," said a concerned fan.
According to Court TV, they have never seen such numbers before. "I'm sure it doesn't shock you, but we've more than doubled our daytime ratings due to this trial," Jon Marks, chief research officer at the Scripps' national networks, the outfit that owns Court TV, shared with Vanity Fair. Unfortunately for the people expressing concern, it will continue to be televised because it's been greenlit by the judge, per Reuters. To echo King, it's all "very sad" to witness.