MeToo founder Tarana Burke reacts to Johnny Depp-Amber Heard verdict

Tarana J. Burke has recently spoken up on a jury’s decision that ruled in favour of Johnny Depp against Amber Heard in a $50 million defamation trial on Wednesday.

Following the Depp’s victory, many commentators on social media began saying that this decision was like a last nail for the #MeToo movement, which reportedly empowered women in Hollywood to accuse well-known personalities including Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby of sexual abuse.

Looking at these comments, on Thursday, the activist Burke issued a statement on social media, saying, “the ‘MeToo’ movement isn’t dead, this system is dead”.

Taking to Instagram, she wrote, “This is the same legal system that y’all have been relying on for justice and accountability for decades to no avail.”

Reportedly, jurors decided unanimously that Heard had defamed her ex-husband with the publication of a 2018 editorial that said he had been “abused by Pirates of Caribbean actor during their rocky relationship”.

Speaking in the wake of Depp-Heard’s verdict, Burke mentioned, “When you get the verdict you want, ‘the movement works’ ― when you don’t, it’s dead.”

Adding to this, the CEO of the movement noted, “When Weinstein went to jail it was, ‘MeToo is winning!’ When Cosby came home it was, ‘What a blow, MeToo is losing!’”

She further added, “You all want to play ping pong and have your way with the hashtag because it doesn’t mean anything to you so you try to kill it every few months. But it means something to millions and millions of folks. It means freedom. It means community. It means safety. It means power. You can’t kill us. We are beyond the hashtag. We are a movement.”

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