The prankster was not pleased to be ousted, saying 'leave me alone'
A man who went viral after claiming to be a juror during
Johnny Depp's defamation case victory against
Amber Heard has since confessed that his posts were a "prank".
The anonymous man posted eight videos on the TikTok account @seekinginfinite last Thursday and Friday seemingly dishing the dirt on what happened during the case that gripped the globe for six weeks, and ended with Depp being awarded £15m, and Heard £2m. He said that he wanted to remain anonymous for the time being but would "consider confirming my identity" in the future.
In his videos, the man, claimed he felt "extremely uncomfortable" with Heard repeatedly looking at the jury when she answered questions and suggested, "everything she was saying would just come off like bull****". His comments, which included, "good news for Johnny Depp" largely echoed what the
Pirates of the Carribean stars' supporters had earlier claimed on social media.
So, unsurprisingly, they went viral.
The videos were reported on by a
number of media outlets, including
Joe.co.uk. Our report made it clear that his claims were not verified.
The man deactivated his TikTok account on Friday and later admitted to
CNN Business that it was "just a prank".
The man, said to be a cinematographer in his late 20s, told the publisher on Sunday: "I deleted everything, leave me alone, and don't spread my information please."
He went on to tell the publisher that he did not "give you permission to use any of my information in any article" and suggested there was "more important things to write about, such as mass shootings, climate change, war, etc".
Asked what inspired him to pretend to be a juror, he said: "I'm sorry but I'm not answering any more questions." I
Casey Fiesler, an assistant professor of information science at University of Colorado Boulder, told CNN that TikTok algorithms favour controversial content, but questioned why anyone thought "this is real".
"It seemed to me that this is totally the kind of thing somebody would just do for views, for a joke or whatever." She added: "
"One of the big challenges with misinformation on social media is it's very, very hard to correct it."
On Monday, a court stenographer made headlines after claiming a few jurors dozed off during trial.
Judy Bellinger told the
Law&Crime Network that a few jurors struggled to stay awake, particularly during the video depositions, saying: "There were a few jurors who were dozing off," Bellinger said, noting that the sleeping jurors were in the front and back rows. "And it was tough."
Read the full
CNN report here.
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