Lance Bass acts out Amber Heard testimony on TikTok: 'Had to do it'
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It seems everyone is tuning in to the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial, which has put the actors' volatile relationship under the microscope and sparked conversations about domestic violence, mental health, substance abuse, and more. On Monday, former boy-bander and would-be astronaut Lance Bass took his viewership a step further by cartoonishly re-enacting Heard's testimony on TikTok.
In Bass' video, using Heard's testimony as voice-over, the former NSYNC member stumbles into a room, perches on a sofa, and rolls on the carpet as someone off-screen throws a few leaves at him; meanwhile, Heard recalls, "I was just sitting there on this carpet, looking at the dirty carpet, wondering how I wound up on this carpet and why I never noticed that the carpet was so filthy before."
"I've heard of dirty pop," Bass wrote in the caption, referencing "Pop," a 2001 NSYNC song, "but dirty carpet… that's a new one." In a comment, he added, "In honor of the trial starting back up…Had 👏 to 👏 do 👏 it!"
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Lance Bass
Heard's testimony refers to the first time Depp allegedly struck her after an exchange about Depp's Winona Ryder tattoo. After Ryder and Depp broke up in 1993, he had his "Winona Forever" tattoo changed to "Wino Forever," and Heard said when she asked Depp about it, he hit her.
"I didn't know what it said. [It was] hard to read," Heard said on her first day of testimony. "He said, 'It says, Wino.' I didn't see that. I thought he was joking, so I laughed. I thought he was joking, and he slapped me across the face, and I laughed. I laughed because I didn't know what else to do [and thought it] might be a joke. I just stared at him. He says, 'You think it's so funny? You think you're a funny bitch?' and he slapped me again."
In his own testimony the week before, Depp had denied striking Heard, or any other woman.
Depp is suing Heard for $50 million over her 2018 Washington Post op-ed chronicling her experiences as a domestic violence survivor. Though Heard never mentioned Depp by name, his lawyers argue that references to him (and Heard's previous abuse allegations following their 2017 divorce) are clear and have damaged Depp's career and reputation. Heard has filed a $100 million countersuit, claiming that Depp and his legal team defamed her by calling her allegations false.
While many TikTok commenters seemed to approve of Bass' re-enactment, others on social media criticized him for making light of abuse. "This trial is about domestic violence, emotional abuse, and sexual assault," one Twitter user wrote Tuesday. "And this is what Lance Bass is choosing to do. These folks really are determined to dissuade victims from ever coming forward again."
Representatives for Bass did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment.
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