Lawtubers Donate
(not pledge)
In the wake of the divisive Depp vs Heard trial journalists claimed there was only one winner: online creators. Certainly, the winner was not the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA) after Heard failed to donate (not pledge) her divorce settlement despite claiming she would and, in fact, had. That is, until online creators shared their “win” with the paediatric hospital.
Across the world viewers and creators alike were left disgruntled by Heard’s failure to pay $3.5mil to unwell children. Unlike the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the CHLA had no part to play in furthering Heard’s claims or the now infamous op-ed, evidently making the public more empathetic for the lack of donation to the latter organisation. However, its not all doom and gloom.
As the public rile over the news, ‘LawTube’ channels on YouTube use their platforms for additional good. One such channel is LegalBytes. In a charity stream hosted by LegalBytes creator Alyte Mazeika and Rick Hoeg of HoegLaw, donations surpassed their original $35,000 goal by over 300%. Throughout the 9 and a half hour stream they were joined by a variety of lawtubers, creators and even Johnny Depp’s friend of 35 years Josh Richman. Both the panel and the audience were mesmerised as Richman described the moment Depp heard the verdict, as well as talking about some of the details of the trial. In a heart-warming address to the creators who had spread the truth during the trial, and even before, Richman and other panellists welled up and expressed gratitude to one another. In addition to this surprise appearance, the creators played games, talked, watched interviews and reactions, and even experienced a magic show. The night drew to a close with donations having reached an incredible $125,000 and JamesFromCourt pledging to dye his hair purple in honour of the donations made.
Indeed, the sense of community that has come from Depp’s plight against his abuser is astonishing. The generosity and empathy the community has shown throughout is unequivocal. I, much like the panel, hope that the CHLA will continue to benefit from the goodwill of those who were disappointed by what they had learned within the trial.
If you would like to donate you can do so by using the donate button below. All donations go directly to the CHLA, there are no third parties involved, including YouTube or the LegalBytes panel.
If you would like to go back and watch the stream you can do so here:
Special thanks to:
Jax (also host of Movie Myths & Monsters).