Blake Lively

[Theremedy]

Evidence is emerging about a coordinated smear campaign against Blake Lively after she was sexually assaulted and harassed on the set of It Ends With Us.

The claim is that her co-star and Director of the movie Justin Baldoni engaged in unwanted sexual behaviour during intimate scenes. Such as “improvised” kissing and biting of her lip. That he whispered inappropriate comments in her ear during filming and was a general all round creep.

Also that the film’s producer Jamey Heath showed her sexual photographs of his wife.

That both of them would walk into her trailer while she was changing.

She complained to the studio at the time and requested an intimacy director to be present during sex scenes. She also got protections written into her contract, such as no improvisation during sex scenes. She started to request her husband (Ryan Reynolds) presence on set.

During the promotion of the movie all the above was spun on social media into a tale of her being unreasonable and a diva. Obviously nothing was mentioned of the behaviour of the men. She was contractually instructed not to talk to deeply about the theme of the movie (ironically, domestic violence) and to keep interviews light. This was spun into her making light of DV and victims.

I remember seeing the stories at the time, and she really was made out to be a bitch.

Now, in a law suit BL has filed we can see text messages between the publicists and a PR firm that were brought in specifically to smear BL. They appear to admit to orchestrating the whole thing and we can see in writing that the PR firm confirm the behaviour and can’t quite believe how well the smear campaign worked. As one of the messages says “it’s quite scary how much people want to hate women” [sic]

Scary indeed.

Awful and I hope she sues massively. Smaller sets this must be rife. The only way to scare them is money.

I wasn’t even aware of the fact I’d fallen for this until reading threads like this one. I just found myself thinking, I’m not keen on her.

Scary stuff. I hope she kicks their arses. Having an extremely powerful man on her side must help, sigh.

He's gone to a lot of trouble. You can understand why Depp would use a PR firm as his career was on the line and the claims against him were pretty egregious.

It is a lot of trouble and expense for something that likely wouldn’t have been believed or taken that seriously anyway.

I can imagine a scenario where an actress complains about unwanted kissing in a love scene and the overwhelming opinion being for her to “get a grip” “part of the job” etc.

As for the whispering, would a woman even really be believed about this, or if so would the majority of people care? The past teaches us that probably not.

It wasn’t a massive movie, this isn’t a huge director like Spielberg. Why go through such expense and effort? Especially when it’s likely not many (men) would have given a shit anyway?

I just thought a damn had burst and people finally saw her for who she really was.

Yes I think this was how it was designed to look - I think because there have been rumours about her not getting on with co stars in a lot of things, right back to gossip girl (of course it might be bollocks but the stories definitely existed before anything with It Ends With Us so might have been in people's awareness). Plus the fact she got married on a slave plantation which is often brought up to criticise her or Ryan Reynolds.
So anyone wanting to really attack her and make stuff up has some old stories to sort of hook it to where people might think "oh yeah, I'm sure I remember reading stuff about her before", and then it all seems a lot more plausible.

Up until recently I would have said that, but more horrifyingly we are also being turned against ourselves.

The social media coverage I saw was young women.

I am seeing a real fear of older women in the younger generation. Massive internalised misogyny. I think Blake Lively's main crime was getting older.

If this happened to Blake Lively - fairly well known actress and with mega A list husband - what on earth does the average, unconnected actress go through on set?

Women have always socially policed other women. We aren't angels who are just nicer and naturally better than men, we are fully rounded humans for better and for worse.

Sure, in many ways men (as a class, NAMALT but TMMALT) behave worse than women because society gives them more license to be selfish, but society offers women plenty of ways to be nasty as well.

Yeah, that interview she did alongside Parker Posey did a fair bit of damage. It was very silly of them to behave like that, really.

The interviewer is apparently now fed up of it all though, and the whole saga.

I think we should focus on Baldoni's alleged behaviour, and how these bastard PR agencies allegedly operate.

That interviewer has been implicated in the alleged smear campaign. Apparently she has links to the PR agency. It does seem to make sense - why make such a big deal about an old interview now?

Yeah, I also thought at the time that she was being a bit dramatic. I mean, sure it's a lousy interview, but this is the interview that almost made her quit? Makes me wonder if she ever had a real job. I have had such lousy jobs from time to time that they often reduced me to tears. That included being bullied on the daily over a period of months and another was having to witness animal cruelty. These are the jobs where I ended up quitting.

Also, she starts off the interview in a really insulting way. Like seriously asking someone about a "bumb" when referring to a pregnancy? I thought it was just weird, also none of her business. And what did it have to do with the movie?

Although I do think that Lively's reaction to that first question was over the top, I have seen male stars respond to inappropriate questions in ways that are much worse and be admired for it.

Exactly. Not to mention in terms of money she has more out of the two to actually fight this rather than let go which is a choice many women would be forced into.

I think I am more disappointed that the accused was such an ally for women not in a token gesture here’s some money to a woman’s charity. But actually seemed to put in the work with a book, podcast which challenged gender norms and promoted equality. Gave a voice to FKA Twiggs. Asked what men could do better. Well I guess in this scenario take ownership of their actions. If they see themselves as role models for a future generation of men then they need to ask themselves how they should handle it to actually promote change in the industry. It just makes me wonder can any man really be an ally (after all we need men for equality) and what hope do we have for the next generation of men if this is the role model. Also does this cancel out any good he may have done in challenging misogyny and raising the awareness of DV. While I may ask myself why it was a podcast aimed at men that gave a voice to FKA Twiggs it’s disappointing to think that might not have been the save space with allies she was hoping for.

As for Blake I hope she receives the justice she deserves while the rest of us challenge the social structures that made this possible.

I take Blake Lively's word for what happened. Those two sound like they thought they were acting discreetly enough to get away with harassing a big star and it was a big power trip.

It could also be both things. She doesn't have to be a great actress or the most easy going person. If that's true, she doesn't deserve a vigilante approach bringing her down with sexual harassment if that's what this was intended as. Plenty of blokes who aren't Mr Sunshine.

What it makes me curious about is the 'diva' reputation of some big Hollywood stars of old and why they came about (perhaps they're well documented, Ive read a lot about Marilyn Monroe for instance but not everyone else). It would be interesting to hear some of their experiences through today's stance of listening more.

I think I am more disappointed that the accused was such an ally for women...

Smoke screen, I'm afraid. Either they think they are entitle to a "little attention" because of their advocacy or they it's to hide the fact that what comes out of their mouth has nothing to do with who they are and what they actually believe or they use it as a pick-up line.

I have seen all three over the years. I distrust men who are very vocal about feminism. Beside, if they actually cared, they would let women speak and talk to other men, rather than trying to score feminist cookies from women, who mostly already know what he is regurgitating to enhance his own image.

Oh yes.

The thing is, I think these men genuinely are serious about their Feminism and about standing for Women, in the abstract.

In the abstract, they can clearly see that Women are marginalised and poorly treated and it behoves all good men to stand up and speak for these poor women who have not had the opportunity to be heard.

But then it comes to the actual women in front of them. The women they have to deal with in person have so much more than the poor suffering Abstract Women, been given such great opportunities, yet the uppity bitches can't even shut up and be grateful. It's a mystery - what is wrong with these women? Don't they know these men are Feminists, on their side? They need to be put in their place.

See also - Neil Gaimon, Russel Brand, Owen Wotsit and so many "progressive" men I've met in real life.

I think its worth discussing how easily this happened. I also saw all the social media posts but tbh didn't pay much attention. I'm not sure I completely believed them - I've seen too many ridiculous cancellations - but I didn't bother looking further.
I think this is now being turned around is because Baldoni got so arrogant about it that he didn't sufficiently hide his tracks and secondly that he's still something of a B lister.
I think if he'd been a bigger name - a Depp for example - I think the social media engine would still be revving for him.
I'd like journalists to really start digging into the PR company too. I'd like to know exactly how many women they have been targeting at the best of abusive men.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/24/blake-lively-allegations-actor-it-ends-with-us-justin-baldoni?CMP=fbgu&utmmmedium=Social&utmsource=Facebook&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0AQl78p8D7NI7MN2TX55gKbd166vYrZGDK3kmrBXbFBql1-yViQqxpM78aemmsjMdwqXD7J0RmbLCGfjtA#Echobox=1735032762

Sorry that was a Guardian link from a journalist regretting her words and how the public were fooled.

Even if she is an awful, selfish person who is rude and whatever it still doesn't make what (allegedly) happened excusable and she still deserves justice. I only add the allegedly because although I believe her don't want to be sued by the way. All of Hollywood is a show, we don't know any of these people but it's easy to forget that; they pay tonnes to curate the perfect images.

No need for the fix. The original was fine as it was. MN posters alone have proven over the last couple of days that there are plenty women who hate other women and support abusive men. The current generation of women on here are the least feminist I've came across in the last 20 years. Either that or they're all men.

I thought the Interview was awful. Classic high school bullying, acting like you completely click with your best friend to make the "third wheel" feel as excluded and awkward as possible. Passive aggressive and nasty!
Had no bearing on the allegations though.

Joss Whedon is Exhibit A in that list.

Grrrr this makes me so mad. Fuck you Baldoni and your sleaze touting PR groupies. Off you trot to mourn the death of your careers.

The thing is she was easy to frame because she is a diva and she does like to interview badly. I think there is also fault in how her and her husband behave but of course the PR campaign against her was wrong. It’s well known that actresses are often targeted in the same way and lose their careers off the back of falling out with the wrong people. Happened to Rosanne Barr, happened to Mo’Nique, happened to Amber Heard etc.

@EvangelicalAboutButteredToast how do you define a diva?