Blake Lively Bombshell Set Up Hollywood vs. Justin Baldoni

Blake Lively is the bombshell sexual harassment complaint vs. Justin Baldoni had Hollywood scrambling for cover ahead of the holiday break, while also checking to see if they missed a landmark that lowers the bar for celebrity public image campaigns.

“It’s really disappointing,” said one senior female industry executive, referring to the detailed harassment allegations and social media smear campaign against Lively by her co-star Baldoni. “If you read the complaint, the text messages, it’s absolutely clear that something really bad happened here.”

“It’s on another level,” said a veteran Hollywood ad agency on condition of anonymity, referring to the PR campaign’s successful attempt to brand Lively as a “deaf, difficult to work with, bully,” according to The Guardian. The New York Times writes about it.

“This is not a traditional anti-crisis plan,” said the PR executive. “A traditional plan means presenting an offensive and defensive perspective, not an overt, bogus smear campaign that looks more like Russian election meddling than protecting a client.”

The precipitation was rapid and severe. Baldoni’s talent agency WME dropped him on Saturday. And by Monday, a series of unfortunate events befell the actor/producer: Sony, the distributor of It All Ends With Us issued a firm statement about Lively’s support (the film grossed $350 million, and the studio used a photo of Lively taken by editors hired by her), denouncing “reputation attacks”; the nonprofit group Vital Voices deprived Baldoni of the allied award they gave him earlier this month citing allegations; and pro-male feminist Liz Plank exit “Man Enough”, podcast she did with Baldoni in an Instagram post.

On Friday, Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Commission as a prelude to the lawsuit, alleging that Baldoni hired two publicists to damage her reputation after a controversy over his behavior on the set of their movie It Ends With Us. The New York Times published details be damned — including a series of text messages between Baldoni and two publicists — that circulated widely on social media over the weekend and into Monday, as offices closed and industry insiders boarded flights to Hawaii, Mexico and Palm Springs estates.

They found time for the latest scandal that swept through the heart of the film industry.

“It’s really disgusting,” said influencer Kara Swisher posted in topicscopying a page from Lively’s complaint that the actress was pressured to “fake full nudity” in the birth scene, “despite no mention of nudity in that scene in the script, her contract, or previous creative discussions.”

Baldoni also assigned the role of OB-GYN to her close friend, Wayfarer CEO Steve Sarowitz, for a birth scene that she found “invasive and humiliating”.

It was one of many specific incidents of harassing personal behavior detailed in the 80-page complaint, which women’s activists found appalling. It comes seven years after the rise of the #MeToo movement and the emergence of a number of sexual predators in the industry.

But it was a series of messages between Baldoni’s publicity managers Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, named as defendants along with the actor and his producers, that caused many in Hollywood the most objections.

“I think you guys need to be tough and show the strength of what you can do in these scenarios,” Abel wrote to Nathan in texts obtained through a subpoena. “He wants to feel that she can be buried.”

“Of course, but you know when we send the papers, we can’t send the work that we will or could do because that would cause us a lot of problems,” Nathan replied, adding, “We can’t write, that we will destroy it.”

On August 4, Abel wrote to Nathan that “I’m having wild thoughts about planting bits and pieces this week about how terrible Blake is to work with. Just to get ahead of it.”

Baldoni’s attorney, Brian Friedman, did not respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

***

The issues raised by the complaint, which is expected to lead to a lawsuit, go beyond the alleged conduct of Baldoni and Wayfarer manufacturers. This suggests a more sinister shadow campaign that sought to invent negative stories and amplify them beyond what most advertising firms in Hollywood consider acceptable.

“There are lines that have been crossed,” said the PR executive. “I’m not saying we don’t use the dark arts, and we don’t use Page Six… We’re all guilty of spin. But we are not guilty of smear fraud.”

“That’s the difference between activism and intentional misrepresentation,” said a lawyer who worked on Lively’s action. “Instead of correcting the record or pushing a positive narrative, this PR team — in collaboration with the client — sought an astroturf strategy. Create a series of stories, use digital tools to artificially create a conversation, and then, when the conversation is organic, stoke the flame and expand it. This is not normal PR. This is misleading and gives the impression to the public that this is being digitally manipulated behind the scenes.”

A dozen phone calls to publicity, talent and film executives from TheWrap went unanswered Monday, a sure sign that the dust-up has raised uncomfortable questions for Hollywood that are easier to avoid than answer.

For many, it seemed like a reminder that Hollywood has made remarkably little progress when it comes to respecting women. Public shaming is still a publicity tool for women who dare to report sexual harassment. After all, if Baldoni—a moderately well-known TV actor—could wreak revenge on a popular figure like Lively, whose husband Ryan Reynolds is one of the highest-grossing stars working today, who’s safe?

“One of her goals in filing this statement is to oppose retaliation,” her attorney said. “Initially, so that people do not speak out against harassment. Because she knows that if it can be done to her, it can be done to anyone. And the only way to do that is to shine a light on it when it happens.”

But at least one legal expert said the case could be a valuable lesson for an industry that often preaches equality but struggles to live those values.

“Despite the horrific allegations and a lot of hostility and negativity, this case could be a positive one in terms of shining a light on the abuse that often happens on set but goes unnoticed,” said Tre Lovell, an entertainment and civil attorney. “I believe the industry will respond by putting in place more mechanisms that allow actors and staff to have a protocol and a means to better report harassment, discrimination, hostile work environments and retaliation, thus making sets safer for people. future”.

Other comments on social media were more skeptical, but found a silver lining in the revelation of the scandal.

“If you’re heartbroken, like me, that the two gleeful architects of Blake Lively’s elimination are young women, just focus and shine a brighter light on Megan Toohey, the journalist who dug deep and wrote about it in detail and objectively to discover the truth . As she did on (Harvey) Weinstein,” Stephanie March, editor of the Minneapolis-St. Paul City Journal, posted in topics.

Humberto Gonzalez and Drew Taylor contributed to this report.