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A Johnny Depp legal team member was praised by her alma mater. CUNY eventually took the post down after receiving backlash online.

Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp arrives in court on Monday, May 16, 2022.STEVE HELBER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
  • The City University of New York wrote a profile of an alumna on Johnny Depp's legal team.

  • CUNY removed the post after receiving criticism from students and faculty.

  • "This a gross mistake & an embarrassing moment for CUNY," a professor tweeted Friday.

New York's public university system posted an article on their website praising an alumna of the school for being on Johnny Depp's legal team but after receiving backlash from students and faculty, the university removed the article.

The Depp and Amber Heard defamation trial was at the forefront of pop culture consciousness for weeks earlier this summer — sparking headlines and debates on domestic violence.

An associate chair and professor at the City University of New York, Amy Hsin, critiqued the article on Twitter, calling the trial "nothing short" of a multimillion-dollar "campaign to humiliate a victim of domestic abuse."

"If a @CUNY alumnus worked on the legal defense team of Harvey Weinstein, convicted serial rapist, or Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted sex trafficker, would @CUNY celebrate it in an email blast calling the case 'hot'? This a gross mistake & an embarrassing moment for CUNY," she tweeted Friday.

The graduate who was the subject of the original article, Yarelyn Mena, talked about working on the team and living "in a bubble" throughout the trial, according to The Daily Mail.

"We understand the strong negative emotions this article elicited and apologize for publishing the item," the school wrote in an August 3 statement. "The article was not meant to convey support for Mr. Depp, implicitly or otherwise, or to call into question any allegations that were made by Amber Heard."

It's unclear how long the article was posted prior to its removal.

CUNY declined to provide further comment.

Hsin and Mena did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Insider