As the jury announced that they have reached a verdict in the defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, Depp is seen on social media singing Bob Marley and The Wailers’1976 hit “War”.
The weeks long televised case is set to reach a verdict today at 3 p.m. Eastern Time (12 p.m. PT).
Reports are that attorneys from each side are expected to assemble shortly at the courthouse in Fairfax County, Va., to hear the jury’s decision. Depp will not be in attendance, and will watch from the United Kingdom while Heard has been awaiting the verdict in Virginia.
Bob Marley’s “War” first appeared on Bob Marley and the Wailers’ 1976 Island Records album, Rastaman Vibration, and is Marley’s only top 10 album in the USA.
The song has always been an inspiration for many oppressed people all over the world. The lyrics are from a speech made by Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I before the United Nations General Assembly on 4 October 1963 which states:
That until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned; That until there are no longer first-class and second-class citizens of any nation; That until the color of a man’s skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; That until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained; And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique and in South Africa in subhuman bondage have been toppled and destroyed; Until bigotry and prejudice and malicious and inhuman self-interest have been replaced by understanding and tolerance and good-will; Until all Africans stand and speak as free beings, equal in the eyes of all men, as they are in the eyes of Heaven; Until that day, the African continent will not know peace. We Africans will fight, if necessary, and we know that we shall win, as we are confident in the victory of good over evil.
Marley himself the subject of much oppression and unfair dealings in the music industry according to Stephen Davis‘ biography “Bob Marley,” had credited several of his multi-million selling 1974-1976 songs including War to close friends and relatives because he was under an unfavorable publishing contract, signed in April 1968 with Cayman Publishing, that would have otherwise deprived him of much of his songwriting royalties.
The Pirates Of The Caribbean actor brought a $50 million lawsuit against his ex-wife in March 2019, alleging that Heard had implicitly accused him of domestic violence in a December 2018 op-ed in the Washington Post. In the piece, Heard had called herself a “public figure representing domestic abuse,” and spoke about the backlash she had received for speaking out. The op-ed did not cite Depp by name, but he alleged that it nevertheless had a devastating impact on his career.
Heard countersued in August 2020, alleging that Depp’s attorney, Adam Waldman, had defamed her when he accused her and her friends of orchestrating an “abuse hoax.” She testified that she has been hounded and threatened on social media on a daily basis since making her claims against Depp, and that her career has suffered as a result.
Throughout the trial Depp had drew for other Marley classics as his soundtrack. According to a Radar Online, Depp and his legal team pulled up to court blasting “Movement of Jah people…” from the car’s speakers as his fans shouted “love you.”
