In April 2022, a defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard began in a Fairfax County, Virginia courtroom. Within days, it had become the most watched legal proceeding since O.J. Simpson — and possibly the first trial in history to go fully viral on TikTok in real time. Depp sued Heard for $50 million over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which she described herself as a public figure representing domestic abuse survivors. Heard countersued for $100 million. For six weeks, the world tun