#CannesYouNot? Oppositional and asymmetrical versions of believability in the Depp/Heard case

Abstract

Johnny Depp’s contentious return to the red carpet at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival sparked fervent debate online about domestic abuse, believability, #MeToo and the rehabilitation of men accused of abuse. In this article, we analyse two oppositional hashtags that became central to this discussion on Twitter: #CannesYouNot, created by supporters of Depp’s ex-wife Amber Heard; and #YesYouCannes, the response offered by Depp’s supporters. Drawing on a dataset of 18,000 tweets, we combine a network analysis with a qualitative analysis of the top tweets using each hashtag in order to understand how the hashtags circulated, their affective orientations and the evidence they use to support their positions. Our findings show that networked media allow the (re)construction of existing hierarchies of power; thus, we argue that although these appear to be straightforwardly oppositional hashtags, they operate asymmetrically in ways that have implications for our understandings of issue publics as well as ramifications for feminist digital activism.