Man Who Went Viral Claiming To Be Heard-Depp Juror Admits It Was A Prank

A man who went viral after claiming to be a juror on the Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard trial has admitted it was a 'prank'.

The anonymous man posted eight videos on the TikTok account @seekinginfinite last Thursday and Friday (2 and 3 June), in which he shared his apparent insights as a purported juror on the high-profile trial.

The handful of videos quickly gained traction and were circulated by content creators, amassing more than two million views - despite a pixelated picture of 'juror paperwork' being the closest he came to providing proof of his service.

What's more, a number of news outlets reported on his videos.

However, the man - who is a cinematographer in his late 20s - deactivated the account on Friday (3 June) before admitting it was 'just a prank'.

The man, who is not a resident of Virginia, where the trial took place, told CNN Business via text: "I deleted everything, leave me alone and don't spread my information please.

"I do not give you permission to use any of my information in any article.

"There's more important things to write about, such as mass shootings, climate change, war, etc."

Asked what inspired him to pretend to be a juror, he said: "I'm sorry but I'm not answering any more questions."

In the videos, the man claimed he grew 'extremely uncomfortable' with Heard's eye contact, adding that her testimony in court 'came off like b******t'.

Alamy

Casey Fiesler, an assistant professor of information science at University of Colorado Boulder, told CNN Business that TikTok algorithms favour controversial content.

She said: "My first thought was, 'Why do people think this is real?'

"At the same time, there were a lot of comments - clearly just people assuming that it was real, and there was certainly nothing to support that. There was no kind of evidence.

"It seemed to me that this is totally the kind of thing somebody would just do for views, for a joke or whatever."

She added: "One of the big challenges with misinformation on social media is it's very, very hard to correct it." 

UNILAD has contacted TikTok for comment.

Last Wednesday (1 June), the jury unanimously found in favour of Depp and awarded him $15 million in damages. The jury awarded Heard $2 million in compensatory damages, finding that in her countersuit, she did not prove all elements of defamation.

Alamy

Depp, 58, sued ex-wife Heard, 36, for $50 million (£38.2 million) in a defamation lawsuit over domestic abuse claims she made in a 2018 article in The Washington Post, and she issued a counterclaim for $100m (£76.4m).

The article did not mention Depp by name, yet his lawyers argued it falsely implied he physically and sexually abused the Aquaman actor while they were together.

The verdict came following six weeks of evidence at Fairfax County Circuit Court, which included testimony from both Depp and Heard, as well as supermodel Kate Moss.

Depp and Heard began dating after meeting on the set of 2011 film The Rum Diary and got married in 2015. Heard obtained a restraining order against Depp the following year and they finalised their divorce in 2017.

In 2020, Depp lost a libel case brought against The Sun over an article in which he was labelled a 'wife beater'.

He has denied all allegations of abuse.

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