Well this is horrifying. The wave of stories over the summer about Blake Lively being a horrible person were deliberately engineered. After Blake Lively alleged sexual harassment on the set of It Ends With Us, Justin Baldoni hired Johnny Depp's PR person to smear her. - ThreadSky

brosandprose.bsky.social • 72 days ago

Well this is horrifying. The wave of stories over the summer about Blake Lively being a horrible person were deliberately engineered.

After Blake Lively alleged sexual harassment on the set of It Ends With Us, Justin Baldoni hired Johnny Depp's PR person to smear her.

Comments

encephalophagy.bsky.social•72 days ago

That whole press cycle felt so weird and fake. Everyone kept repeating how horrible she was, yet when I asked them what exactly she had done, all the accusations were so mild--at most somewhat crass jokes that would have made a white actor more popular. Not surprised to discover it was fabricated.

kennyriot.bsky.social•72 days ago

Looks like a few videos I saw about that ad campaign need redos...

joffie.bsky.social•72 days ago

They will always do whatever they can to keep the status quo.

carlajwilliams.net•71 days ago

I hope she wins; she should. But I doubt he'll miss a single opportunity because of it. US voters just re-elected a convicted worse offender to the highest position in the country. Good luck getting anything more than nominal justice for victims of SA for the foreseeable future.

brosandprose.bsky.social•72 days ago

Justin Baldoni has successfully painted himself as an ally to women and made feminism a part of his brand. He gave a TED Talk about toxic masculinity. But this is how he ran the set of It Ends With Us, a film about domestic violence.

brosandprose.bsky.social•72 days ago

This is the part that made me feel sick to my stomach.

shayz0rz.bsky.social•71 days ago

Same. The number of people I know who got whipped up into a frenzy over Depp/Heard and still refuse to believe they knew nothing and were manipulated, even with a story like this out there....

ghostyspook.bsky.social•71 days ago

Who is this random Norwegian person that is so Involved lord

bellacoseveins.bsky.social•71 days ago

I was immediately put off by the fact that, after she claimed the timing of the video was coincidental and she didn’t know about the movie drama, she kept incessantly releasing videos about. Also posted videos with similar headlines about other celebrities. My thought at the time was opportunist

talezassian.bsky.social•47 days ago

Flaa has been posting a lot of videos on her channel defending herself and attacking the NY Times - she may not be paid by Baldoni’s PR team but she’s certainly on their side

jade23.bsky.social•70 days ago

depp v heard really made people feel empowered to silence/shame victims

jste.in•70 days ago

Depp still won that PR war so hard, I have friends who are otherwise well intentioned feminists (men and women) who refuse to believe that Heard was smeared and set up “because [they] watched the trial” and it makes me so sad that I can’t reach them

rmbodenheimer.bsky.social•72 days ago

Oh hell the fuck no. Anyone aligned with JD is automatically suspect.

repetitiveuser.bsky.social•72 days ago

JFC these damn people

teaberryblue.net•72 days ago

Having been pregnant, commenting on someone’s belly is absolutely fair game for getting snapped at.

tootru.bsky.social•72 days ago

i've never been pregnant & commenting on my belly will get a snap at the least.

'you just had a baby, right?'

'no, i'm just fat' *hard stare*

bunlene.bsky.social•71 days ago

I still remember someone commenting on how I was too fat to get out of a chair when I was pregnant

deputydale.bsky.social•72 days ago

Okay, but watch the video for yourself on that point. Lively and Parker Posey were awful to the interviewer.

brosandprose.bsky.social•72 days ago

considering the topic of discussion, which is an elaborate smear campaign financed by Blake Lively's costar after she filed a sexual harassment complaint against him, whether or not Lively was rude to an interviewer years ago isn't relevant right now.

deputydale.bsky.social•72 days ago

I was only trying to comment on the interpretation of the baby bump—I agree that it doesn’t justify harassment or retaliation or undercut Lively’s right to a safe set.

nycjules.bsky.social•71 days ago

The interviewer who was on the crisis teams payroll and posted a similar Amber Heard is awful video for them? And as a professional interviewer the studio gives rules and Blake's pregnancy was off limits. She tried to be slick. They knew it and weren't going to allow it.

deputydale.bsky.social•71 days ago

Okay—that’s good context to know. I didn’t know that the interviewer was on the payroll, although I read that she defended Depp. I also didn’t know for sure the pregnancy was explicitly off limits. Thanks for sharing.

repetitiveuser.bsky.social•72 days ago

If you're ever at the receiving end of said backlash, I promise you fucking deserved it.

As a husband, watching how damn difficult it was for my wife to literally gestate life gives you a very particular insight into it and then you realize *that's literally every mother ever*

songsinmydreams.bsky.social•72 days ago

I remember seeing that video and wondering why people were making such a big deal out of it and it does feel suspicious in retrospect. Seemed like the kind of basic social slip up most people do every so often because talking to people can be hard and you’re not going to do it perfectly all the time

sorchamay.bsky.social•72 days ago

Exactly, she was pregnant, probably tired, and there was nothing for people to be that mad.

songsinmydreams.bsky.social•72 days ago

We’ve all said the wrong thing or accidentally made someone feel left out, but most of us don’t have video evidence of those encounters that can be used to make a public example of how rude we are

panhandlerunner.bsky.social•72 days ago

You can put lipstick on a pig, but when you let it go, guess where it’s going to run back to… the pigsty.

jasonvantaco.bsky.social•72 days ago

And she was also close with two of the most powerful people in the entertainment industry and was not immune to this type of engineered slander. Crazy.

boomies-n-zoomies.bsky.social•72 days ago

Hollywood probably does need to be destroyed, but not for the reasons cultural conservatives say.

justaddwine.bsky.social•72 days ago

This is just so sad that two women are this vile …

jamieklingler.bsky.social•71 days ago

And Vital Voices gave him an ally award recently as part of his “feminist” schtick

melinda4.bsky.social•69 days ago

Paywall

bruniemanuele1.bsky.social•72 days ago

📌

eionastewart.bsky.social•71 days ago

An incredible read. I don’t have a horse in the race, but I remember reading the stories and think Lively sounded awful. I hate to discover I was manipulated like this

rednecklefty.bsky.social•71 days ago

It would be great if we had a list of those articles. With the names of the authors. And their XTwitter or Bluesky handles. And their email addresses.

emkrapfen.bsky.social•72 days ago

📌

lloyddobler89.bsky.social•72 days ago

The only thing I saw during the summer was that clip of her being flippant about DV survivors and the other one from 2016 of her and Parker Posey being assholes to that interviewer.

bgluckman.bsky.social•71 days ago

The one from 2016 is addressed in the article, and from the sounds of it, the "interviewer" is on the payroll of the firm Baldoni hired, collecting "content" like this to release at a later date.

lloyddobler89.bsky.social•71 days ago

Yeah I guess I'm wondering what the smear campaign was beyond just pointing out things she's done.

rowaenthe.bsky.social•69 days ago

It's worth noting and pointing out interviews like that can be very selectively edited, are and edited to suit the purposes of the interviewer, not the subject -- and often are.

lloyddobler89.bsky.social•69 days ago

And they didn't even bring up Plantation wedding!

rowaenthe.bsky.social•69 days ago

No, because that would have been a mistake to their purpose. Lively and Reynolds both apologized profusely for that years ago, and evidently didn't repeat similar behavior. That speaks to their commitment and genuineness in that regard, so it would have been empty ammo to use.

pxtl.ca•70 days ago

I feel good about my information ecosystem that I completely missed these stories.

onesarahwatters.bsky.social•70 days ago

Exactly!

euqinomist.bsky.social•70 days ago

I remember these stories popping up everywhere and something felt really off about it. I really need to learn to trust my gut feeling with things like this

sriraghavt.bsky.social•70 days ago

📌

vivika13.bsky.social•71 days ago

📌

icordelia.bsky.social•71 days ago

Two things can be true, Justin Baldoni is a sleazebag who hid his sleaziness because it’s always easy for internet to hate women. Blake Lively still fumbled the promotion of a DV movie, and she displayed mean girl tendencies, and fondness for Antebellum period which fuelled the internet’s hate.

connorcore.bsky.social•70 days ago

I think this the lesson so many people fail to grasp. A significant number of celebrities are not nice people, and they do not deserve our attention

flowerchild1977.bsky.social•71 days ago

Seen a few interviews of her she comes across as horrifyingly rude and condescending.. let’s hope I just saw the worst.

rowaenthe.bsky.social•69 days ago

You probably saw it come across as her being the worst because that's the way they wanted you to see it. That's why they edited and wrote interviews that way. Almost anything or anyone can be made to look horrific or beatific with the most innocuous of comments.

rom-sk.bsky.social•72 days ago

Great piece.

I’d like to know if any of the “reporters” who credulously wrote hit pieces against her will face any public reckoning.

rossirosebank.bsky.social•71 days ago

Terrifying article. I suspected something was wrong with that sudden Blake Lively hate campaign. I thought they did it to promote the movie though. Didnt realise they were trying to destroy her. people loved turning on her though. Pretty successful women. They were all in.

kayzee1012.bsky.social•72 days ago

I don’t know how a person can live with themselves making money that way. What kind of soulless person makes their living engineering hate for another human being like that to protect an abuser?

goodsmartbear.bsky.social•69 days ago

What's clear is Melissa Nathan is a piece of shit human being. I don't know why anyone would work for this cretin--especially women. She appears to specialize in protecting horrible men. (Apparently the whole family is shit--sister Sara Nathan works for the NY Post rag).

maxyamy.bsky.social•69 days ago

Sadly it’s not just Lively. Even women writers/editors, not just men, have made💰 smearing female celebs. Often giving men a pass. Sara Nathan @ NYP & sister Melissa Nathan, have contributed to smears @ big name women.
Other media wrongly smeared Amber Hurd/Megan Markle/Angelina Jolie/Olivia Wilde.

dreid63.bsky.social•72 days ago

Did you listen to the podcast — Who Trolled Amber?

nycjules.bsky.social•71 days ago

Worth noting that the interview clip that was posted with a narrative that she is awful was by the same interviewer who posted a similar clip during the Depp case painting Amber Heard as an awful person. Many journalists suspect she is being paid by the crisis team.

aiasirl.bsky.social•72 days ago

I knew those stories were strange. They seemed to come out of nowhere and make a lot of noise over nothing.

zemery.bsky.social•72 days ago

holy shit fuck justin baldoni

bryndonovan.bsky.social•72 days ago

I mean I guess we all know now why he cast himself as a slimy, manipulative abuser. Easy role to play. 🤷‍♀️

madaml.bsky.social•71 days ago

yet they were all the truth. They didn't lie. Weird!

necessarymonsterzk.bsky.social•69 days ago

That’s how you run a successful smear campaign. You put a spotlight on things your target has done in the past. It doesn’t matter when it happened, whether they’ve apologized, grown, showed remorse, or made recompense. You keep the focus on the bad acts. Most won’t read past the headlines.

rowaenthe.bsky.social•69 days ago

It's called "slanting". You edit and write interviews/ articles in such a way that you can truthfully relay a quote or moment, but show it in such a perspective that is derogatory or damaging to the subject. Happens all the time. Always remember that everything, EVERYTHING is edited -- good or bad.

phastinemoon.bsky.social•70 days ago

Huh... would you look at THAT.

bouley.bsky.social•69 days ago

WOW, shows you what some men are capable of.

mikethemadbiol.bsky.social•72 days ago

📌

mrsdianek.bsky.social•72 days ago

It is horrifying.

niaaoife.bsky.social•72 days ago

I love how the article ends: “[Mr. Baldoni] said “there is never an excuse” to “hurt a woman, physically or emotionally.” He added, “We men have to step up and figure out how we can be better allies.””

I have known several men as hypocritical as him. Beloved, abusive, toxic men.

twistedhausreads.bsky.social•69 days ago

I dated a few vulnerable narcissists who seemed gentle at first, but once the mask slipped, their Jekyll-and-Hyde nature was horrifying. I feel silly for missing the red flags—the ‘healed man’ act, faux feminism, and therapy speak. Looking back, his performative behavior was all too obvious.

niaaoife.bsky.social•67 days ago

Yes. I feel all of this. They are very good at playing everyone. Then when you say, “Oh shit, everybody, this person is bad news,” they think you are completely irrational.

squirrellyaltruist.bsky.social•70 days ago

Reminds us of Ashton Kutcher

kaora4.bsky.social•39 days ago

I don't like her but I believe her. You don't have to be likeable to be harassed. Baldoni is scum.

lisacee.bsky.social•72 days ago

Talk about tone deaf and two-faced. Who the hell directs a movie about *domestic violence* and acts inappropriately with his costar on his own set??

wendelschwab.bsky.social•70 days ago

From what I understand, he was inappropriate with a lot of people, more than just Blake Lively.

anim8rgirl.bsky.social•71 days ago

This is why the entire cast unfollowed Justin on Instagram. They knew what he did and what went on.

patfrank60.bsky.social•70 days ago

Never knew a thing about Blake Likely or read anything about her even on Twitter until the legal news. Wish I had not watched It Ends With Us last night. A very unlikely story about a hot affair that ends badly over her admission of a teen romance over a decade earlier. Disturbing on so many levels.

squirrellyaltruist.bsky.social•70 days ago

It’s based on a book about Bloom’s alleged real life experience. However, I haven’t read up on the original author to learn about the real situation or if there were charges or admissions. The acting was off with the sister in law having the best role. Sounds like the set was a nightmare tho.

patfrank60.bsky.social•69 days ago

The movie expects us to believe that Atlas waited all this time to get married, but never called her and Lily never called him, they reconnected because Atlas owned their favorite restaurant, that Atlas would start a fight in his own restaurant, and Lily would have no reservations about Atlas.

honestlyna.bsky.social•69 days ago

I really hate how they set up the whole Frittata incident so that the night they go back to back to dine at Roots she has a fresh black eye AND he has a wrapped hand.

squirrellyaltruist.bsky.social•69 days ago

Yep. I almost didn’t finish watching it.

patfrank60.bsky.social•69 days ago

I almost stopped on the roof scene. Thought they probably were hooking up. And found their banter boring.

squirrellyaltruist.bsky.social•69 days ago

I can’t imagine reading/watching anything else by the author. It seems like bad danger/fetish “chick” lit.

patfrank60.bsky.social•69 days ago

Speaking about writing her book, Colleen revealed that while Lily, Ryle and Atlas's love triangle is a story close to her heart, it not a true story.Aug 9, 2024 https://www.heart.co.uk/showbiz/tv-movies/is-it-ends-with-us-a-true-story/#:~:text=Speaking%20about%20writing%20her%20book,it%20not%20a%20true%20story.

squirrellyaltruist.bsky.social•69 days ago

Wow! The press coverage earlier this year made it sound real. Honestly, I never would have watched the movie if I hadn’t thought it was based on the author’s actual experience. Thank you.

kirkcruz.bsky.social•71 days ago

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And it’s a must-read for sure:
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deborahleao.bsky.social•71 days ago

📌

bairdlet.bsky.social•71 days ago

thank you for this!

kirkcruz.bsky.social•71 days ago

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kirkcruz.bsky.social•65 days ago

@bairdlet.bsky.social

Just in case you missed *this* discourse…
https://bsky.app/profile/kirkcruz.bsky.social/post/3lefbidm2ms2l

peggyamm.bsky.social•71 days ago

makes me wonder about Amber and any other victims of Ms Abel, Ms. Nathan et. al.

krismeana.bsky.social•71 days ago

Johnny Depp’s PR person, eh? I wonder if many tried to warn that the public response to the orchestrated online smear campaign ran by Depp in the defamation trial against his ex wife… would lead to more cases of similar behavior… 😑

wbudding.bsky.social•72 days ago

I dunno, maybe they all are problematic?

brosandprose.bsky.social•72 days ago

Blake Lively is flawed but Justin Baldoni paid for a coordinated and vicious smear campaign to discredit her complaints about sexual harassment on set. This is not about celebrities being problematic.

datawizgirl.bsky.social•72 days ago

Seconding this. Yes Lively should have promoted the film in a more sensitive way. But sexual harassment and smear campaigns are way worse.

shadysanctuary.bsky.social•72 days ago

Blake actually promoted the film in the exact way she was contractually obligated to. The full legal complaint says she had to follow an approved plan that told the cast NOT to talk about DV. Justin allegedly intentionally veered away from the official messaging in order to protect his public image

datawizgirl.bsky.social•72 days ago

Oof I missed this part. But given the backlash she got it makes sense

triniliz22.bsky.social•70 days ago

For people wondering about the "flawed" comment, she got married on a plantation. And there's this https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2014/10/76178/blake-lively-preserve-antebellum-shoot
🤦🏾‍♀️
*In no way am I saying that she deserves any of this.

hahughes.bsky.social•71 days ago

why the fuck mention she's "flawed?" Are you not "flawed?" Like isn't that a part of the human condition? Why are suggesting she's "problematic?" She could be a flaming asshole and still deserve to bodily autonomy.

battynatty.bsky.social•71 days ago

You don’t have to concede she’s flawed and you should examine why you think that. Maybe because of the insidious smear campaign? Maybe because women are held to a higher standard?There is no perfect human and requiring perfect victims assists abusers.