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The blast radius from It Ends With Us has gone nuclear with Blake Lively denouncing director and co-star Justin Baldoni, his production company Wayfarer Studios and others on the domestic violence film for sexually harassing her and subsequently enacting “a coordinated effort to destroy her reputation.”
“I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted,” Lively said today in a statement provided to Deadline. Baldoni, through his lawyer Bryan Freedman, calls the allegations “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.”
Still, in a dense 10-claim complaint filed late yesterday with the California Civil Rights Department, Lively details at length “the hostile work environment that had nearly derailed production of the Film” and the multi-pronged “Astroturfing” campaign that was allegedly launched against her by self-declared feminist Baldoni and his company.
“Mr. Baldoni and his Wayfarer associates embarked on a sophisticated press and digital plan in retaliation for Ms. Lively exercising her legally-protected right to speak up about their misconduct on the set, with the additional objective of intimidating her and anyone else from revealing in public what actually occurred,” declares the 80-page complaint, packed with seemingly damning text messages between Baldoni and “crisis communications specialist named Melissa Nathan, and her company The Agency Group PR LLC (TAG),”
Full of cameos of sorts from Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds, pal Taylor Swift and more, plus apparent examples of boasting of media manipulation for Baldoni at the likes of the New York Post, the Daily Mail and others, the filing with the state agency is a clear prelude to further action coming in the courts unless the parties settle ASAP. Additionally, even with Hollywood heavyweight Freedman’s extensive response (see below in full), a reply filing from Wayfarer is almost certain after the holidays.
While tensions on and off the set of the film based on Coolen Hoover’s 2016 novel of the same name were made pretty clear around the time of It Ends With Us August release, Lively’s filing seems to reveal a much deeper rot. Also, with the “untraceable” strategy of “Astroturfing” by TAG for “social.
manipulation,” as texts and other extensive communications between Team Baldoni indicate, Lively’s action spotlights the pivotal power social media now has in PR tactics, molding messaging and controlling the narrative of the modern star machine and rollout through fact and fiction.
