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The Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard courtroom drama had everything: celebrity, gossip, intrigue, massive financial sums and more. No wonder everyone was glued to the proceedings.

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But there was more than just Hollywood gawking going on. It also said something important about our culture at large.

Well, it probably said many things. We’d like to focus on just one of them though.

Before we talk about this case though, let’s back track. Let’s talk about actor Jussie Smollett.

In 2019, Smollett staged a now infamous hate crime against himself, making false police reports about it. In 2021, he was convicted of five felony counts of disorderly conduct and then sentenced to 150 days in jail.

It’s now acknowledged that Smollett staged the fake racist attack to give himself attention and revive a career that was stalling.

People passionate about racial justice were outraged about Smollett’s fake case. There are of course real hate crimes that go on regularly — some of them are murders — and Smollett was basically insulting all real victims by faking his story.

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It was important that he faced legal consequences. People take racism seriously, as they should. Bogus stories undermine that seriousness.

Before the Smollett charges, it was not uncommon to see news stories about hate crimes that were later exposed as hoaxes. While there is no firm data out yet, let’s hope the Smollett story has since served to reduce the number of hoaxes.

A related phenomenon is playing out in the Depp vs. Heard saga. The court heard that during the #MeToo conversation, Amber Heard’s representatives worked to develop an op-ed where she implied that Depp, her ex-husband, had abused her.

Depp sued her for defamation and a jury on Wednesday and awarded him $15 million in damages.

It is important that women feel empowered to speak out when men, powerful or not, abuse them. It’s a problem though if someone trumps up accusations to simply jump on the bandwagon to be a part of a cultural phenomenon. This appears to be what Heard did.

Let’s hope this decision serves as a deterrent for future missteps.

Tackling racism is important. Tackling sexism and abuse is important. Misleading accusations and outright hoaxes are counterproductive.