As this is our first letter in June we want to take a moment to say Happy Pride! 💕 (Hannah wholeheartedly endorses and recommends E. Alex Jung's fantastic profile of Joel Kim Booster, which is linked in Too Many Tabs.)

Pop Cult is a space where we address both the dark and light sides of pop culture and in this week's issue, we do both. Daysia delves into the Depp-Heard trial, including its impact on domestic abuse survivors, and how it has changed the way she thinks about fandom. Meanwhile, Hannah shares her thoughts on recent royal news, both real and fictional.

Thank you for reading,

<3

Daysia and Hannah

This Week's Fixations

Daysia: Warning: I am talking about the Depp-Heard case, which has a lot of references to domestic violence and abuse.

I’ve mostly avoided the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial, not because I thought it was unimportant, but because the vitriolic, misogynist fervor around Heard was so upsetting. At least, I tried to avoid it. To quote the New York Times’ Amanda Hess, “I did not follow the defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard — it followed me.” It has been inescapable.

When the verdict was read on June 1, my stomach dropped. The jury found both Depp and Heard defamed each other, either directly or through legal counsel. Heard had described herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse,” and despite compelling evidence supporting this, her statement was still ruled as defamatory. The jury also found that Depp’s former attorney had defamed Heard by calling one of her abuse allegations a “hoax.” Still, Depp is viewed as a “winner” in this case, and advocates have already expressed the chilling effect this trial and verdict will have on domestic violence survivors moving forward.

For a long time, I didn’t understand the case or the relationship, which is partly by design. There was a massive pro-Depp social media campaign, pushed by fans and anti-feminists alike, that worked to discredit Heard and any evidence she presented showing the abuse she endured. Johnny Depp supporters are by far louder and more numerous, and Depp himself has more power and influence than Heard. People who publicly stand with Amber Heard are subject to harassment online. All of this works to obscure the fact that a U.K. judge ruled that Heard’s abuse allegations against Depp were “substantially true” amid Depp’s libel suit against The Sun over a headline that called him a “wife beater.” As Constance Grady wrote for Vox, “While there’s compelling evidence that violence came from both people in this marriage, it’s far from clear that Heard was the primary aggressor.”

Domestic violence advocates have refuted the claim of “mutual abuse” between Heard and Depp, stating it has ignored what experts know about abuse dynamics. It has been said many times throughout the past six weeks, but Heard is not the “perfect victim,” which has been used to discredit her story over and over again. Heard has admitted to hitting Depp (she says in self defense). She also came with evidence that she was abused, the jury heard texts from Depp describing extremely violent murder fantasies about Heard, and it was still not enough to convince them or the public that she should identify as an abuse survivor.

It goes without saying that this case will have ripple effects on domestic abuse survivors, even high profile ones. We’ve already seen Depp fans rally against Evan Rachel Woods, who accused Marilyn Manson of abuse (she’s not the only one) and has also been sued for defamation by him. Fans have even begun to rally for Brad Pitt to sue Angelina Jolie. We will see this go on and on.

So much of this trial was also wrapped up in fandom, which has led me to examine my own relationship to fandom. For years now, it has felt as though you can’t be a fan of someone/something without being willing to defend that person/thing no matter what. I understand that the people I am a fan of are people, meaning they are imperfect and not beyond reproach. However, so much of fandom requires dehumanizing people to fit into your idea of them. They cannot do wrong, otherwise the cognitive dissonance of stanning a problematic person would be too much (“If they’re bad, then I’m bad.”) It is much easier to discredit whatever/whoever challenges the ideas we have about a certain person we love. We see this played out in stan culture today. People will go to extreme lengths to defend the object of their love—and their love itself—and nowhere is that more apparent than in this case. As Vice’s Gita Jackson wrote, “The ends justify the means in fandom, especially when you convince yourself it’s a moral crusade.”

On a smaller, less serious scale, One Direction’s Liam Payne has been trending all week for basically talking shit and being overall disrespectful to his fellow bandmates. As a longtime Directioner, it was hard to hear, but I’d lost my love for Liam long ago. He’s done and said so much shit since One Direction broke up, from saying some weird (homophobic?) comments about Harry Styles to pushing crypto to dating a barely legal Maya Henry. If this had been a decade ago, I probably would have stood by Liam no matter what. But I’m older now, and sometimes people are so terrible that you have to let them go. I think everyone needs to remember that!

Hannah: This weekend is the Queen's Platinum Jubilee which celebrates Queen Elizabeth II's 70-year reign—she's the first British monarch to have one. This historic moment has resulted in an extra-long weekend for me since I live in a British Overseas Territory.

Some thoughts from the Jubilee coverage I have had this weekend include: "Wow, the royal children are so grown-up now!", "Leave Meghan alone!", and "Props to the team running the Instagram for Prince William and Kate Middleton—meme references, emojis, and Reels, oh my!"

And now for some exciting news about my favorite (fictional) royal and President's son... the casting of Henry and Alex for Amazon's adaptation of Red, White & Royal Blue has been announced.

I think this casting is very good and a great opportunity for Taylor Zakhar Perez (Alex) and Nicholas Galitzine (Henry). This movie might just be the thing that convinces me to get Prime again...

Has Lorde Dropped a New Album?

Lorde discussed her SOLARSYSTYM radio station with Elle and covered Carly Rae Jepsen!

Plus, we just passed the nine-year anniversary of “Royals.” History!

ICYMI: Maggie Rogers released a new dancey single, “Want Want.” Also, Avril Lavigne released a deluxe version of Let Go, her debut album, to celebrate its 20th (!) anniversary, which includes her version of “Breakaway” (yes, Avril originally wrote it for her album but then gave it to Kelly Clarkson).

Too Many Tabs

Rina Sawayama was interviewed by writer Hannah Ewens about her upcoming album Hold the Girl and healing past trauma for Rolling Stone UK.

Vulture’s E. Alex Jung hung out with Joel Kim Booster for a night out in LA with his friends and writes about the making of Booster’s new movie, Fire Island, his comedy career, and childhood.

Plus… Michael B. Jordan and Lori Harvey have reportedly called it quits, Jada addresses Oscar night on Red Table Talk, looks like a Jesy Nelson solo album isn’t happening, this Pride Month the memes are too good, a dramatic teaser for The Hunger Games prequel, and “is Meg Stalter real?”