'Cheers in front of the courtroom': Reaction after Johnny Depp, Amber Heard trial verdict

Fans of Johnny Depp gathering outside the Fairfax, Va. courthouse burst into repeated cheers as the verdict in the libel lawsuit between Depp and Amber Heard was read out by the jury.

The jury ruled in favour of Depp and awarded him US$15 million.

To each of the questions on whether Depp's lawyers had proven the elements of defamation, the jury repeatedly responded with a resounding "yes."

"Every time there was a 'yes' and a 'yes' and a 'yes,' when the verdict was read out to each of the different questions that the jury had to answer, there were cheers in front of the courtroom," CTV National News Washington Bureau Chief Joy Malbon said from outside the courthouse on Wednesday afternoon.

The discourse on social media, as well as from fans outside of the courthouse, has been overwhelmingly pro-Depp. Some had been attending the trial every day of the six-week court battle.

"I mean, he was the bigger star. There was a lot of favouritism. A lot of people grew up with Johnny Depp," Malbon said.

Depp had sued his ex-wife Heard for libel over a December 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as "a public figure representing domestic abuse." His lawyers said he was defamed by the article even though it never mentioned his name.

Heard also countersued Depp for libel, seeking US$100 million. The jury found that Heard should receive US$2 million, concluding that she was defamed by Depp's lawyer when he called her abuse allegations a hoax.

Over the course of the six-week trial, most of the testimony focused on whether Heard had been physically and sexually abused, as she claimed.

"I'm not sure, even though money was awarded, that any of them wins. Did really did we have to hear this? Did we have to know this kind of toxic relationship that involved drugs and alcohol and allegations of rape and abuse and beatings and violence? And yet here we are," said Malbon.

With files from The Associated Press.