Elon Musk And James Franco Won't Testify At Johnny Depp And Amber Heard Trial

Elon Musk and James Franco will not be testifying at the $50 million defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. This was confirmed to The Independent by a source familiar with the court case.

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Ahead of the explosive trial, Heard's legal counsel had included the Tesla CEO, 50, and the 127 Hours star, 44, on a list of potential witnesses - with the intention of both appearing via video link if they were indeed to appear.

According to the outlet, the reason the two will not be taking the stand at the trial - which will determine whether or not Heard defamed Depp - is not yet known.

Musk's name was mentioned at the trial on Wednesday as Christian Carino, a former talent manager for both Heard and Depp, took the stand.

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Carino told the court that Heard was dating Musk while trying to reconcile with Depp in the aftermath of their acrimonious divorce.

The 36-year-old Aquaman star and the SpaceX founder reportedly had an on-off relationship between 2016 and 2018.

Musk's name was also mentioned in 68-year-old Depp's UK libel case against The Sun, which he lost in November 2020.

Eleanor Laws QC, who was Depp's legal rep during the UK trial, read out text messages from May 2016, in which Heard told Musk she was going to organize a restraining order against the Pirates of the Caribbean star.

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Laws said Musk offered to "arrange 24/7 security" for Heard, and that he added: "The offer would stand, even if you never wanted to see me again... anyway, sorry for being an idiot. The radio silence hurts a lot. It only matters because I really like you."

Depp's attorneys subpoenaed some of Musk's previous communications with The Rum Diary star for the current case.

Franco's name was mentioned at the trial last week when Depp said at the witness stand that he had concerns at the time that Heard was having an affair with Franco, who starred alongside her in 2015's The Adderal Diaries.

Joshua Drew, a friend of Heard, told the court at his UK trial that he'd learned that Depp had a "particular issue" with Franco and that the mere mention of his name would "cause fights".

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