Johnny Depp's Popularity Numbers Down Among Boomers After Trial

Johnny Depp won his multimillion-dollar lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard, but a study shows he may have lost when it comes to his popularity.

On June 1, a jury found in Depp's favor, agreeing that Heard had defamed him in a 2018 op-ed in which she described herself as a survivor of domestic violence.

The court case, which lasted for almost two months, was filled with shocking revelations, viral moments and explosive celebrity testimony.

The trial also resulted in damage to Depp's reputation among viewers, according to a study from research firm Morning Consult. Overall, it found that favorable opinions of Depp fell furthest in the eyes of boomers and men.

Participants were asked for their opinion of Depp in the days leading up to the trial, then in the days after the verdict. He was thought of favorably by 59 percent of boomers before stepping into the Fairfax County courtroom in Virginia, but that figure had dropped to just 37 percent after the trial.

His favorability among men also dropped significantly, from 67 percent to 52 percent.

The study, which asked U.S. adults if they have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Johnny Depp, subdivided its results by gender, age groups—Generation Z, millennials, Generation X and boomers—and political leaning.

Among all the adults surveyed, Depp's favorability rating fell from 68 to 56 percent; those who had no opinion or had never heard from him edged up from 16 to 22 percent; while people with an unfavorable opinion of the actor went from 16 to 22 percent.

Gen Z and millennials' opinion of Depp remained more consistent than older generations. His favorability rating fell by just 2 percentage points among members of Gen Z and 6 percentage points among millennials.

Among the women surveyed, there was a 9-point drop in the percentage who had a favorable opinion of Depp. The proportion who had an unfavorable opinion of Depp rose from 14 to 19 percent.

When grouped by political leaning, Depp's popularity had dropped 15 percentage points among Democrats, 13 points among independents and 8 points among Republicans.

Roughly 2,200 U.S. adults were surveyed by Morning Consult, which said the margin of error for the study was 2 percentage points.

The negative impact on Depp's reputation may come as a surprise to those who believe his fanbase and social media support helped him win the trial.

"The Depp team has been extremely effective in the court of public opinion, leveraging their natural advantage of Depp's popularity and the goodwill he has built up over his career," Halim Dhanidina, a partner at law firm Werksman Jackson told Newsweek.

Trending topics supporting Depp vastly outweighed those that supported Heard during the trial, although Depp's attorney Ben Chew dismissed a claim from Heard's lawyer Elaine Bredehoft that the verdict was influenced by social media.

After trending on TikTok throughout the trial thanks to hashtags and viral challenges, Depp joined TikTok recently and gained millions of followers within the first 24 hours.

There are no statistics available on how the trial has affected Amber Heard's popularity. Negative hashtags about Heard trended consistently throughout the court battle but, as is evident from Morning Consult's findings, social media isn't always indicative of public opinion.

Amber Melville-Brown, a partner at international law firm Withers, told Newsweek that she believed Heard's credibility was "in tatters" after the verdict.

Melville-Brown described the trial as "confusing, unsettling, offensive and graphic, yet mesmerizing, as the contestants fought to the reputational death.

"She has already suffered extreme backlash and 'death by TikTok' as she was relentlessly featured in unflattering and offensive memes arising out of her testimony."

Melville-Brown continued: "With the court now finding that she published false and defamatory allegations with actual malice, her road to rehabilitation will be much longer, rougher and tougher."

Correction 06/10/22, 11:35 a.m. ET: This article was updated to correct some figures from the survey.