Denton, Gamergate and now Blake Lively

Has anyone got a share token for this article, please:

https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/celebrity/article/poor-blake-lively-never-trust-a-man-who-calls-himself-a-feminist-ally-xvwhzmlx0

We’ve been saying for years on these boards that self-identifying as a feminist ally is a red flag; that finally seems to be gaining wider traction.

She signed the Suzanne Moore letter. Not much of a critical thinker.

It's so depressing. Two women working to 'destroy' and 'bury' another on behalf of a man, for the crime of asking for safeguards and to not be sexually harassed at work.

Pages 11–12:

23. On August 16, Ms. Nathan circulated a Daily Mail article entitled "String of hard to watch' videos that have surfacedfollowing 'tone deaf' Q&A to promote It Ends With Us could tarnish 3 36-year-old star's golden Hollywood imagefor good,” to which Ms. Abel responded: "Wow. You really outdid yourself with this piece," and Ms. Nathan replied: “That's why you hired me right? I'm the best."

[shots of Daily Mail article & messages]

24. As their own words reveal, the purpose ofthis "social manipulation” plan was two-fold: it aimed to both (a) conceal the pattern of harassment and other misconduct by Mr. Baldoni , Mr. Heath, and Wayfarer, and (b) retaliate against Ms. Lively by battering her image, harming her businesses, and causing her and her family severe emotional harm. Millions of people (including many reporters and influencers) who saw these planted stories, social media posts, and other online content had no idea they were unwitting consumers of a crisis PR, astroturfing, and digital retaliation campaign created and funded by Mr. Baldoni and Wayfarer to hurt Ms. Lively. That is precisely the goal of an astroturfing campaign— to light the fire and continue to stoke conversations secretly, blurring the line between authentic and manufactured content, and creating viral public takedowns.

You beat me to it! I was going to post that I'm still waiting for an apology when the Cass report vindicated Róisín's concerns about puberty blockers, not just from Laura Snapes but yeah, how about it, Laura?

Page 9:
18. The retaliation campaign relied on more than just publicists and crisis managers spinning stories. They also retained subcontractors, including a Texas-based contractor named Jed Wallace, who weaponized a digital army around the country from New York to Los Angeles to create, seed, and promote content that appeared to be authentic on social media platforms and internet chat forums. The Baldoni-Wayfarer team would then feed pieces of this manufactured content to unwitting reporters, making content go viral in order to influence public opinion and thereby cause an organic pile-on. To safeguard against the risk of Ms. Lively ever revealing the truth about Mr. Baldoni, the Baldoni-Wayfarer team created, planted, amplified, and boosted content designed to eviscerate Ms. Lively's credibility. They engaged in the same techniques to bolster Mr. Baldoni's credibility and suppress any negative content about him.

19. On August 10, the day after release of the Film, Ms. Nathan's team reported that they had “started to see shift on social, due largely to Jed and his team's efforts to shift the narrative" against Ms. Lively.

[edited to fix C&P fail]

Maybe the guardian will think on and realise that the guardian fell for propertranda

You're right @CrossPurposes and also a better person than I am - I wish I hadn't brought it up now

Maybe she'll think on and make the connection that in each case she fell for propaganda.

I don't follow a lot of sleb stuff, but I am interested in the use of propaganda and information warfare.

That paragraph describes very well behaviours I've seen on MN involving other slebs. Very involved, thread after thread being started about the same people.

It's a valid story and I hope Lively gets the result she deserves. However, my eye was caught by The Guardian inserting Taylor Lorenz into the story, a toxic individual who is in urgent need of rehabilitation and it looks like friends of hers at The Guardian are happy to oblige.

Lorenz is no stranger to doxxing others and she was recently booted out of the Washington Post for lying about a story and then lying to editorial and then more recently got the boot again by celebrating the assassination of healthcare CEO Brian Thompson on social media.

I haven't read it all, but even the first few pages are eye-watering.

On page 2 begins Lively's list of conduct which Baldoni and others must cease, for the welfare of everyone else on set. She INBU. The only remotely unreasonable thing about the list is that anyone had to make a list saying don't do these obviously inappropriate things.

Page 5:
9. On July 31 , 2024, following the recommendation of their publicist, Jennifer Abel, Wayfarer, and Mr. Baldoni retained a crisis communications specialist named Melissa Nathan, and her company The Agency Group PR LLC (“ TAG”). Ms. Nathan delivered a proposal to Mr. Baldoni, which included “[a] website (to discuss) , full reddit, full social account take downs, full social crisis team on
hand for anything – engage with audiences in the right way, start threads of theories ( discuss) this is the way to be fully 100% protected. " Ms. Nathan also proposed the “creation of social fan engagement to go back and forth with any negative accounts, helping to change [sic] narrative and stay on track." Per Ms. Nathan, "All of this will be most importantly untraceable." As Ms. Abel described it, the plan was to engage in “social media mitigation and proactive fan posting to counter the negative” as well as "socia| manipulation."

https://archive.ph/y4y8w

https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/blake-livelys-co-star-dropped-by-agent-after-sexual-harassment-claim-r0kx52vhm

Baldoni dropped by his agent.

https://archive.ph/Q8VNQ

https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/celebrity/article/justin-baldoni-blake-lively-andrew-billen-vrdsqb569

This is an interesting article I read this morning, by Andrew Billen of The Times. He interviewed Baldoni back in 2021about "his woker-than-woke memoir Man Enough: Undefining My Masculinity". I think it's fair to say Billen thinks Baldoni is a hypocrite and a creep.

I'm sensing a MASSIVE backfiring of their attempt to smear Blake Lively. Baldoni has now been dropped by his agent, and I don't think 'crisis management expert' Melissa Nathan or 'PR executive' Jennifer Abel will find work particularly easy to come by, given neither the 'crisis' nor the public relations were handled at all well.

But yes, as per your OP - it's sickening how easy it is to attack and undermine women .

Farking hell.

Direct link to Blake Lively's legal submission to which the article in the OP links:

static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/1629cc34e562e325/4410b1d9-full.pdf

BLAKE LIVELY, an individual, Plaintiff,
V.
WAYFARER STUDIOS LLC, a California Limited Liability Company, JUSTIN BALDONI, an individual, JAMEY HEATH, an individual, STEVE SAROWITZ, an individual, MELISSA NATHAN, an individual , THE AGENCY GROUP PR LLC , a Delaware Limited Liability Company, JENNIFER ABEL, an individual, RWA COMMUNICATIONS, LLC, a California Limited Liability Company, JED WALLACE, an individual, STREET RELATIONS INC., a California Corporation, and DOES 1-100, Defendants

COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES FOR:
(1) SEXUAL HARASSMENT (CAL. GOV. CODE, § 12940/TITLE VII OF THE
CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 ("TITLE VII")) ;
(2) RETALIATION(CAL. GOV. CODE, §12940/TITLE VII);
(3) FAILURE TO INVESTIGATE, PREVENT, AND/OR REMEDY HARASSMENT (CAL. GOV. CODE, § 12940);
(4) RETALIATION(CAL. LABOR CODE, § 1102.5);
(5) AIDING AND ABETTING HARASSMENT AND RETALIATION (CAL. GOV. CODE, § 12940) ;
(6) BREACH OF CONTRACT; (7) INTENTIONAL INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS;
(8) NEGLIGENCE;
(9) FALSE LIGHT INVASION OF PRIVACY (CAL. CONST., ART. I, § 1 ) ;
(10) INTERFERENCE WITH PROSPECTIVE ECONOMIC ADVANTAGE

Yes, the bit at the end about women who’ve been the victim of smear campaigns, often by those waving their “feminist ally” credentials resonates. I expect the parallel between this and the endless numbers of women who’ve been vilified for pro-women views went over the author’s head.

I guess it's petty and uncharitable of me to bring this up, and I'm sorry if it detracts from the spirit of the article, but is it the same Laura Snapes who described Roisin Murphy's album as having an 'ugly stain' and has she said she's ashamed of that too?'

www.theguardian.com/music/2023/sep/07/roisin-murphy-hit-parade-review

I would also add my lack of surprise that a guardian music journalist turns out to be misogynistic. Despite being a woman. That department has been particularly pernicious on women's rights when they are being undermined by trans activists.

Fuck me, that is chilling. And that it’s two women orchestrating it (and covering up sexual abuse) is just the shitty cherry on the piss-soaked cake.