The defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard took another salacious turn on Monday when Depp’s legal team surprised the Aquaman actress with closed-circuit TV footage taken from the elevator to the former couple’s penthouse. And fans online now seem to believe the video is a smoking gun, particularly given Heard’s about-face during testimony.
In the footage, time-stamped May 22, 2016, Heard is seen taking actor James Franco — who Depp had accused her of cheating with during the marriage — up to their home the day after police were called to intervene in a domestic dispute, and the day before Heard filed for divorce.
While taking the stand, Heard was asked by Depp’s attorney Camille Vasquez about the timing of when she changed the locks on the shared penthouse, just days before filing a restraining order against Depp — who was out of town at the time. “You testified yesterday that you sought a temporary restraining order on May 27, 2016,” Vasquez stated. “Because you wanted to change your locks.” When asked if she recalled that testimony, Heard responded in the affirmative.
However, Vasquez pointed out that Heard had actually changed the locks to the penthouse the day Franco came to visit. “That’s why you felt comfortable having James Franco over the evening of May 22, 2016, Ms. Heard?”
“I do not know when James came over,” testified Heard, to which Vasquez responded with a snappy, “OK, let’s remind you,” before introducing the video footage into evidence.
Suffice to say, Depp fans are rejoicing at Heard seemingly getting caught in a lie.
“Well there we are,” tweeted legal commentator Emily D. Baker. “The James Franco elevator video came in with the timeline of when Amber Heard changed the locks to the penthouse. I didn’t realize the locks were changed before Franco came over on 5/22/2016. It’s just…”
“ROLL FILM,” enthused another fan in all caps.
Another user recorded her reaction — scaring her cat in the process — of the big “gotcha” moment.
Other users brought facts to the table, such as that Heard entertained Franco a day after she claimed to have been violently assaulted, or that she seems unbothered by Franco’s own assault allegations.
“Amber cheating on Johnny Depp with James Franco is like driving a Camry when you have a Lambo in the garage,” quipped one user.
Others found memes to express their feelings.
Though Franco and billionaire Elon Musk — who appears in yet another elevator video cozying up to Heard — were initially expected to take the stand, it was announced last month that neither will testify in the trial after all.