Throughout the court proceedings, social media platforms became a breeding ground for seemingly endless pro-Depp and anti-Heard memes and videos. Photo: AFP
During her tell-all Dateline NBC interview with Savannah Guthrie, Amber Heard stood firmly by her testimony, presented a binder of allegations against ex-husband Johnny Depp and shared that she still loves the Pirates Of The Caribbean actor.
The Friday (June 17) interview, however, was far from a ratings bonanza for NBC despite Heard's post-trial reflections and revelations.
The one-on-one conversation between Guthrie and the embattled Aquaman actor delivered a 0.3 rating in the key demographic of viewers ages 18-49 and 2.3 million viewers, per Nielsen.
Heard's appearance struggled to elevate Dateline past its normal ratings and brought in the show's second-smallest audience since November, according to TVLine.
Leading up to the special, NBC teased numerous buzzy snippets of the Q&A.
But come Friday, the episode couldn't quite live up to the hype, even falling behind a repeat episode of ABC's 20/20, which garnered 2.6 million viewers.
Ratings-wise, the interview struggled to capture the eyeballs that closely watched the defamation trial in Fairfax, Virginia, which concluded earlier this month after six weeks.
Depp sued ex-wife Heard for US$50mil, alleging she had defamed him with a 2018 Washington Post op-ed.
She later countersued Depp for defamation, seeking US$100mil.
On June 1, jurors awarded US$15mil in damages to Depp and US$2mil in damages to Heard. However, adhering to Virginia's statutory cap, Judge Penney Azcarate reduced Depp's award to approximately US$10.4mil.
Throughout the court proceedings, which began in April, social media platforms like TikTok, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram became a breeding ground for seemingly endless pro-Depp and anti-Heard memes and videos about the public trial.
Just hours after the Dateline interview aired on NBC, YouTube users posted their own reactions.
Some deemed the interview "vindictive," a "flop" and a "bust," while others tried to analyse Heard's body language.
Similarly, the Dateline episode spawned numerous anti-Heard responses from Depp supporters on Twitter.
Still, Heard said that she "loved (Depp) with all my heart."
"I tried the best I could do to make a deeply broken relationship work, and I couldn't," Heard told Guthrie. – Los Angeles Times/Tribune News Service
