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#TruthWins is trending. On Wednesday, Johnny Depp won his defamation case against his ex-wife, Amber Heard, as the whole world closely watched jurors announce their verdict. A crowd of Depp supporters gathered outside of the courthouse and went up in cheers, chanting: "Johnny, Johnny." While the seven-member civil jury in Virginia found both Heard and Depp defamed each other, she was guilty of slandering him on more accounts.

Jurors decided the 58-year-old actor is entitled to $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages after finding that Heard libeled him when she wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post in 2018, implying being a victim of domestic abuse. But the judge explained state law limits punitive damages to $350,000, meaning the actual amount he was awarded is $10.35 million. The jurors also ordered Depp to pay $2 million for his former wife’s partial success in her countersuit about being defamed by one of Depp’s attorneys who called her abuse allegations a hoax.

The trial has been one rollercoaster of a ride, from people expressing their support, sharing what they think of the proceedings, and responding to the testimonies heard in the case. But right now, in the eyes of social media users, it was a clear courtroom win for Depp. The internet is overflowing with reactions to his victory, so we at Bored Panda compiled a list of some of the best memes and tweets fans have shared online. So continue scrolling, hit upvote on the ones you agree with, and be sure to share your own takes with us in the comments!

After a six-week widely watched trial, the jury ruled in Johnny Depp's favor in his defamation lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard

Image credits: SophieLents

Depp found the verdict to be a relief, as he shared a statement on Instagram saying, "The jury gave me my life back"

Image credits: johnnydepp

Heard released a statement as well, explaining that the disappointment she was feeling "is beyond words" and calling the verdict a "setback" for women

Image credits: realamberheard

You can hear the jury's verdict in full right here

The internet is buzzing with reactions to Depp’s victory, here’s what people had to say

#1

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EyeYamStewPeed
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Because of this lawsuit, 1/4 of the people who report abuse at universities in the U.S. now have a defamation lawsuit against them.

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Disha Nath-Sepoy
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The verdict isn't the problem. A lying woman taking advantage of the system, pretending to be a victim, and ruining it for real victims is the problem.

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Vicky Z
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Women especially victims want other victims to be heard and believed! Yesterday a victim was heard and believed and won the case so mission accomplished!

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Vorknkx
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And after all this, she still has the nerve to play the "victim"...

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Creature Cargeaux
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Can this woman please stop speaking for survivors of abuse. She is not one of us. She does not speak for us. She does not have anything in common with us. She does not have any right to keep using us as an excuse as to why she won't take "L" & go get help! Like... dude... you're sick! Go check into a fucken rehab & do us all a favor & stop trying to further abuse your victim! That's what you're doing! You are still trying to abuse Johnny! You are the worst kind of abuser! Just go away. You ruined your own career. With your own words! Now you need to sit in it. Have you not learned anything? Nobody believes you & we do not want you speaking for us! You represent the men who have hurt us survivors. You have a seat at their table! Not ours! Like... Jesus dude!

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Angela Philp
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I, as a woman, am happy that the truth won. It's not about gender, it's about truth. The only people supporting Amber seem to be toxic feminists, who will support women and make men the villain no matter what

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Claudia Gross
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If anything itvis her that made it harder for women to be taken serious. All these lies out of her. What a despicable wan.

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Grace Barclay
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As someone who was sexually abused as a young girl from the age of 10-13, and then picked the wrong men for so long, I am so happy for Johnny Depp. I knew about his early life with and abusive mother (woman). My sexual abuser as a young girl, teen, was non other than my older sister (woman). When you have not gone through this kind of trauma it is terribly difficult to act it out, especially in a court of law.

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Ranch Dressing
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't know enough about the case but why did everyone know that Amber was lying from day 1?

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Random Panda
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We didn't, most people believed her when she initially made the accusations. It was after the tapes on which she admits to hitting Johnny and taunts him about being a DV victim were leaked that the tide really started to turn against her.

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Gypsy Lee
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As a woman who actually understands you’re not a victim if you dish as much as you get; SHE’S set women back! I’ve been through abuse. What she did was abuse. You don’t get to be an abuser then hid behind the skirts of women who have actually survived real abuse! Disgusting.

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Celtic Pirate Queen
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Abso f*cking lutely! (I will admit a certain bias as my alter ego, Captain Cordelia Crowe is Captain Jack Sparrow's cousin).

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CanadianPanda
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I concur! When I first read her post I was going to respond that she doesn't represent all of women. At least not me. She's a living proof that double standard still does exist and she continues trying to cover it up. Sad.

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EJN
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think most women don't want to be included in that category with Amber so we don't have to worry about what her verdict means to us.

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Carmen Honacker
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I’d like to add an important part here! As a person who has been abused and watcher her mother abused by a drunken, violent man, she made my blood boil with her lies. It takes a victim to know one and that she was lying through her teeth made me wonder why she isn’t judged with lying on the stand! If anything, she gave all true victims a bad name, when it was already an uphill battle to prove abuse. So for all that I care, she can go to hell.

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ButterFlyGoddess
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Amber Heard…Beautiful✨Could Of Had The World In Her Hands But Greed & Envy Has Made Her Ugly & Empty😈 I pray for the daughter that she’s raising🙏🏾 ALWAYS L❤️VE JOHNNY,We All Make Mistakes Your Only Human My Brother❤️

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Cato Oomen
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1 year ago

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I'm more concerned by how people have been trashing her so much. They're real people who were in a real relationship. It's not a damned reality series. People are trashing her as if they were there and know exactly what happened. You have no clue. And a verdict really doesn't prove anything either cuz those people have no clue what really transpired either. Not every part of a relationship is caught on video or audio. And Johnny Depp, while I'm sure Amber has been cruel to him as well, is not innocent in this.

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Aamna Shah
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You're concerned that an abuser who admitted on an audio recording that she sometimes loses herself and gets violent is getting called out for her abuse? I find this casual 'both sides were abusive' b******t quite hypocritical. When a man assaults a woman, nobody dares to say that 'both parties were abusive to each other' but when a man is victimized by a narcissistic, manipulative and abusive woman who refuses to ever accept any fault of hers, suddenly people love to care about the rights of the abuser because she's a woman. As a woman, I find it extremely offensive. A woman who cuts off a man's finger, says in court that hitting a man is not punching and has a history of assaulting her partners, one she even publicly assaulted in front of witnesses is not the same as a man reacting to her abuse and defending himself.

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SoloDadof3
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1 year ago (edited)

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So am I, now maybe more men that can spend $1M+ on lawyers can finally have the same voice as women that get government assisted attorneys. /sarcasm

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During the six-week trial, jurors were presented with a mixed bag of evidence, including video and audio recordings, text messages, and emails of incidents from the couple's stormy life together. The case was also scrutinized on social media, making Depp's fans go above and beyond to offer support and even bring alpacas outside the court to "brighten his day". Although the dramatic testimonies and conflicting reports made it an arduous trial to call, the jury determined that Heard defamed Depp with actual malice in her op-ed titled "I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change."

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Jill Pulcifer
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Agreed, I have an ex who behaved alot like Amber said Johnny did. All I feel today is joy that a victim was heard and believed. Dosent matter that he is a man. All I see is a victim actively taking his life back from his abuser, and it's a beautiful thing.

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While Depp wasn't present in the courtroom on Wednesday due to a previously scheduled work commitment, Heard was. As the judge read the verdict saying that she had lost the majority of her countersuit, she remained stone-faced, eyes focused on the ground. Following the jury's decision, Heard took to Twitter to say that her disappointment "is beyond words" and express her sadness about losing "a right I thought I had as an American — to speak freely and openly".

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Shortly after winning the defamation lawsuit, Depp also stated on Instagram that his main goal was to clear his name. He was relieved to hear the decision and thanked the jury for giving him his life back, adding that he was "truly humbled". Within just a few hours, over 10 million people liked his post on the platform. His lawyers also gave a brief statement outside the court right after the verdict. They said Heard's claims were "defamatory and not supported by any evidence" and they were "so grateful to the jury for their careful deliberations". They added they were "truly honored" to work with the actor on the case, saying it was "now time to turn the page and look to the future".

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DennyS (denzoren)
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He did and you didn't think we'd believe him did you....well how do you like it now? Huh?

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If you haven’t been able to keep up with the case, Depp sued Heard for $50 million, saying she defamed him by accusing him of domestic abuse. Heard also filed a countersuit against Depp, seeking $100 million in damages and blaming his legal team for falsely implying she was faking her claims.

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But let's take a few steps back, shall we? The actors met on the set of The Rum Diary in 2009 and were married in Los Angeles in 2015. Unfortunately, they called it quits just 15 months after. Heard filed for divorce and obtained a temporary restraining order against her spouse amid allegations that he had assaulted her under the influence. "​​Given the brevity of this marriage and the most recent and tragic loss of his mother, Johnny will not respond to any of the salacious false stories, gossip, misinformation and lies about his personal life," a rep for the actor told PEOPLE at the time. "Hopefully the dissolution of this short marriage will be resolved quickly." Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case.

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PCW10101
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It was always about truth - not retribution or punitive damages. I don't imagine Ms Heard will pay up, and I am even more certain that Mr Depp wont care. His reputation has been resurrected. Frankly, that he was ever a star in the Disney stable is amazing to me. He has always seemed a beautifully, deliciously wild spirit to me, and not particularly family-friendly, but oh so entertaining. I hope his career can get back on track and we look forward to many more years of his wonderful, insightful and delightfully quirky work.

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In 2016, the duo reached a $7 million settlement with Heard pledging to donate the money to charity. The former couple released a joint statement saying their relationship was "intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love. Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain. There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm."

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Two years later, Depp sued UK tabloid The Sun over an article calling him a "wife beater". In that case, Judge Justice Nicol explained that the paper had proved the article to be "substantially true". Depp ultimately lost the lawsuit since the judge found that 12 of the 14 alleged incidents of domestic violence testified by Heard had occurred. Depp's lawyer called the ruling "perverse" and said the actor plans to appeal.

#11

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Vorknkx
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

First there was the boy who cried "wolf" - now we have the heartless woman who cried "abuse"... and the story ends the same way.

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troufaki13
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What really amuses me is that she thought she had all the women on her side. But the women chose to side with the truth

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Vicky Z
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A person that has been abused can easily tell who was the abuser by watching the trial

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When it comes to Heard’s 2018 publication in The Washington Post where she recounted enduring physical, psychological, verbal, and sexual domestic abuse, Depp was not specifically named in the piece. However, he argued it was an example of "defamation by implication" because some parts referred to allegations of abuse she made against him following their break-up in 2016. Moreover, Depp stated his professional reputation was damaged nonetheless because he lost a few big-budget film roles.

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DennyS (denzoren)
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Exactly! I've always liked his movies but the evidence was there. His side was clear and coherent while hers was just a mess.

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From April 11 to May 27, the jury heard both Depp and Heard testify twice, each throwing accusations at one another and denying the allegations against them. The jurors also heard from famous witnesses like Kate Moss and Ellen Barkin, friends, family members, medics, therapists, and staff who worked or continue to work with the former couple.

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Tammilee Truitt
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Again...did she even know she was being recorded? Such a narc. Don't think he would have considered recording on his own. Thank goodness he has people who have his back and he is loved and cared for. Narcs hate that s***.

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In 1964, the Supreme Court ruled that defamation suits brought by notable figures must prove the claims were false and caused damage and confirm that the person who made the defamatory statement did so with "actual malice." To show that Heard acted with malicious intent, the actor had to provide evidence he never assaulted his ex-wife, which in turn would prove that her op-ed piece aimed to defame him. Also, to claim damages, he had to explain how her article caused harm to his reputation. Being a three-time best actor Oscar nominee, Depp had been a profitable star until recent years. His role as Jack Sparrow helped turn the Pirates of the Caribbean into a global franchise, but he lost that role. He was also replaced in the ongoing Fantastic Beasts series with Mads Mikkelsen in the latest film, The Secrets of Dumbledore.

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Tammilee Truitt
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Of course the top left guy. I want to know him! She hurt him as much as she hurt Mr. Depp.

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The case glued masses of people to their screens because of its captivating television coverage. Millions of passionate followers were dissecting everything from the actors' behaviors and words to the potential meanings of their clothes. While both performers emerge from the trial feeling damage to both their reputations and their careers, Depp can finally relax knowing the jury ruled in his favor and appreciate the overflowing support shared by his fans online.

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SoloDadof3
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But false allegations also should be followed by perjury charges! I am willing to bet they won't as is the case most of the time!

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Cold Contagious
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I hope this victory thrusts forward the positive impact, immediately and with a resounding boom towards his career and radiates like soundwaves into the universe! He deserves a good karma explōsion.

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PCW10101
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He did, and I am so happy he did and set the record straight. But imagine all the male victims of DV who don't have the resources. We need to care and assist them as well. Too many good men and great fathers are being kept from being a great example and a loving parent to their children.

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Lorraine Woollands
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Has Captain Jack Sparrow would say" Not all treasure is silver and gold mate."

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EyeYamStewPeed
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Isn't it weird, though, how the masses on social media are claiming "it's not a blow for women" while experts from *reliable sources* like NPR, the New Yorker, and the New York Times recognize the effect this will have on people. "It just adds another barrier to what victims and survivors have to deal with, as they're determining how to get the support and safety they need," said Ruth Glenn, president and CEO of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence." ". Experts were warning that anti-feminist groups were using the trial to mobilize and that defamation lawsuits were being used to silence survivors of domestic violence. Now that a jury has sided with Depp, advocates say the verdict could have a chilling effect on other survivors looking to speak out against their abusers." https://www.npr.org/2022/06/02/1102621479/the-depp-verdict-could-bring-a-chilling-effect-for-domestic-abuse-survivors

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Monday
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Now my question is....does she just pay 13 million or does she have to pay 15 and then he gives 2 back?

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troufaki13
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

She caused more damage to herself than the damage she tried to do on Johnny

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