Why is Blake Lively making claims of a smear campaign against her? , Entertainment News

Hollywood star Blake Lively has filed a legal complaint against It End’s With Us director and co-star Justin Baldoni, accusing him of “repeated sexual harassment” on set and an intense smear campaign against her following the film’s release. has been applied.

Lively filed a complaint with the California Department of Civil Rights on Friday ahead of the trial, the Associated Press news agency reports. The complaint names Baldoni, his publicists and senior executives at Wayfarer, Baldoni’s studio behind the 2024 film, as defendants.

Lively said in a statement to reporters, “I hope that my legal action will help expose these horrific retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak out about misconduct, and those who may be targeted.” This will help in saving them.”

Baldoni, who is known for speaking out about “toxic masculinity” and supporting women, has not personally responded to the claims. However, his legal team has described these as “completely false”.

What we know about this controversy:

What was the movie It Ends with Us about?

The August 2024 drama is based on author Colleen Hoover’s best-selling 2016 novel of the same name. Set in Boston, Massachusetts, the film tells the story of flower seller Lily Bloom, played by Lively. Lily was raised by an abusive father who frequently hit her mother and eventually fell in love with and married neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid, played by Baldoni.

When her first love, Atlas, played by Brandon Sklenar, re-enters her life, Lily begins to see Ryle’s abusive side. She eventually finds the courage to leave the marriage, citing the need to protect her daughter and the promise that the cycle of violence against her will end.

Lively co-produced the film while Baldoni directed it. The film received mixed reviews as some critics accused the makers of romanticizing domestic violence. Nevertheless, it was a box office hit, grossing $351 million worldwide, despite costing $25 million to make. Other big Hollywood names in the film include Jenny Slate and comedian Hasan Minhaj.

What happened on the film set?

According to a legal complaint obtained by The New York Times, while shooting the film from April 2023 to early 2024, Lively complained that Baldoni and Wayfarer CEO Jamie Heath were violating physical boundaries and making sexual, inappropriate comments to her. Were staying.

According to the complaint, Lively expressed concerns about Baldoni before shooting began and said she objected to the sex scenes he wanted to add and felt they were unnecessary.

Later, she said, Baldoni talked to her about her sex life, pressed her about her religious beliefs and called her fitness trainer about her post-pregnancy weight gain behind her back. The actress gave birth to her fourth child in February 2023.

In November 2023, Lively contacted Wayfarer and demanded safety measures be implemented on the film set.

During a meeting with Baldoni, Heath and other producers, he complained that Baldoni had promoted unwanted kissing on the set and discussed his sex life, revealing details of encounters when they may not have been consensual.

Lively alleged that Heath showed her a video of his naked wife and watched the star undress in his trailer. She further said that the two men broke into her trailer without telling her while she was naked, even while she was breastfeeding.

Wayfarer agreed that both men would not be allowed into Lively’s trailer and would no longer show or talk to Lively about nude videos or pictures of women or sexual experiences, genitalia or pornography. Baldoni was barred from retouching sex scenes, asking about Lively’s weight, pressuring her on her religious beliefs, or mentioning her late father. The studio also hired an intimacy coordinator to oversee Baldoni and Lively’s scenes.

According to The New York Times, Lively later told people with whom she worked that men’s behavior had changed.

Why does Lively say she was the victim of a smear campaign?

However, Lively also alleges in Friday’s legal complaint that Baldoni and Wayfarer targeted her after the film’s release as part of a “sophisticated and well-financed” scheme to damage her reputation in retaliation for speaking out on set. . Wayfarer co-founder Steve Sarowitz was also named in the complaint.

As The New York Times reports, the actress backed up her complaint with thousands of pages of text messages and emails between Baldoni and his team, which she obtained via a subpoena.

Lively said in the complaint that Baldoni had hired publicists to spread theories about her online and publish news stories critical of her. The complaint says Baldoni’s team “created, planted, amplified and promoted content designed to destroy Ms. Lively’s credibility”. “They engaged in the same techniques to enhance Mr. Baldoni’s credibility and suppress any negative material about him.”

According to text messages included with the complaint, Wayfarer and Baldoni hired Melissa Nathan, a public relations crisis manager who worked with high-profile clients including actor Johnny Depp and rapper Drake.

In their initial communication, Baldoni told Nathan that he wanted a stronger PR plan than the one he presented. According to legal complaint records, Baldoni’s publicist Jennifer Abel later messaged Nathan, “He wants to feel like he can be buried.”

Later, the PR team agreed to work on an “untraceable” social media strategy that would work to “change the narrative” around Lively, portraying her as a bully on set and portraying Baldoni as her victim. Will portray as. According to the text documents, the team also worked to bury stories that indicated Baldoni’s alleged inappropriate behavior on set.

Was Lively’s reputation harmed in any way?

Lively experienced negative comments online following the film’s release, although it is unclear how much of it was created or promoted by outside forces. A marketing firm hired by Lively prepared a report in August concluding that she was likely the subject of a “multichannel online attack”.

Critics accused her of being “tone-deaf” because in many appearances, she wore floral colors to match her character’s style in the film. Many also accused her of failing to promote advocacy against domestic violence in the film’s media campaign.

Social media users began reposting examples of Lively being rude or ungrateful in the past. In one example, Norwegian entertainment reporter Kjersti Fla re-uploaded an interview she conducted with Lively in 2016 to YouTube. In the clip, Lively took a dig at the reporter for commenting on the actor’s baby bump. Fla has since said that his actions were not part of a planned campaign.

What does Baldoni say on the controversy?

Baldoni has not personally responded to the allegations. Brian Friedman, an attorney representing Wayfarer and its top executives, has denied Lively’s claims, saying they are “completely false, defamatory and intentionally libelous.”

Friedman said that Lively had threatened not to come to the set or promote the film if her requests were not heeded. Wayfarer had hired a crisis manager to “proactively” address “numerous demands and threats,” he added.

Lively’s complaint alleges that Baldoni played a key role in the PR campaign against her, encouraging her team and flagging sample social media posts for its use.

However, texts reviewed by The Times’ The New York Times show that he also expressed concerns about articles critical of Lively. “How can we somehow say we’re not doing anything like this – it looks like we’re trying to tear him down,” he said in one text.

Baldoni was missing from several appearances during the film’s media campaign and was never photographed with Lively.

On Monday, Vital Voices, a global nonprofit that focuses on empowering women, rescinded a December 9 award it had given to Baldoni for her solidarity with women. Baldoni’s podcast co-host Liz Plank also announced Tuesday that she was leaving his Man Enough show.

What are other stars saying?

Following the film’s release, Internet pundits quickly noticed that It End’s With Us author Colleen Hoover was no longer following Baldoni on Instagram. Additionally, in a statement posted to the social media site Saturday, Hoover described Lively as “honest, kind, supportive and patient.” He avoided commenting directly about the allegations against Baldoni.

Co-star Sklenar defended Lively in an Instagram post, saying it was “disappointing to see the amount of negativity directed at women” in the film, adding that the negative coverage was distracting from the film’s message.

America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn and Alexis Bledel, who co-starred with Lively in the 2005 film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, also supported her in a joint statement released on Instagram on Sunday.

“During the filming of ‘It End’s With Us,’ we saw her muster the courage to demand a safe workplace for herself and her coworkers on set, and we saw evidence of a premeditated and retaliatory effort to discredit her.” “Amazed to read.” Voice,” the statement read.