#It Ends with Us

[maaarine]

'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine (Megan Twohey and Mike McIntire and Julie Tate, The New York Times, Dec 21 2024)

"Last summer, as the release of “It Ends With Us” approached, Justin Baldoni, the director and a star of the film, and Jamey Heath, the lead producer, hired a crisis public relations expert.

During shooting, Blake Lively, the co-star, had complained that the men had repeatedly violated physical boundaries and made sexual and other inappropriate comments to her.

Their studio, Wayfarer, agreed to provide a full-time intimacy coordinator, bring in an outside producer and put other safeguards on set.

In a side letter to Ms. Lively’s contract, signed by Mr. Heath, the studio also agreed not to retaliate against the actress.

But by August, the two men, who had positioned themselves as feminist allies in the #MeToo era, expressed fears that her allegations would become public and taint them, according to a legal complaint that she filed Friday.

It claims that their P.R. effort had an explicit goal: to harm Ms. Lively’s reputation instead.

Her filing includes excerpts from thousands of pages of text messages and emails that she obtained through a subpoena.

These and other documents were reviewed by The New York Times. (…)

Mr. Baldoni was best known for the CW satirical romantic dramedy “Jane the Virgin.”

Wayfarer provided the resources for bigger ambitions. It was bankrolled by the billionaire Steve Sarowitz, who is co-chair of the studio with Mr. Baldoni.

They and Mr. Heath, the chief executive, are all deeply involved with the Baha’i religious organization, which promotes unity, peace and gender equality.

Mr. Baldoni has presented himself as an ally to women, writing books, co-hosting a podcast with Mr. Heath and giving talks on toxic masculinity. (…)

She claimed Mr. Baldoni had improvised unwanted kissing and discussed his sex life, including encounters in which he said he may not have received consent.

Mr. Heath had shown her a video of his wife naked, she said, and he had watched Ms. Lively in her trailer when she was topless and having body makeup removed, despite her asking him to look away.

She said that both men repeatedly entered her makeup trailer uninvited while she was undressed, including when she was breastfeeding. (…)

As the film release neared, Ms. Lively and other cast members informed Sony and Wayfarer that they would not do any appearances alongside Mr. Baldoni.

So did Ms. Hoover, the author, who had her own dissatisfactions with him and had become more upset after he told her about Ms. Lively’s allegations, according to text messages from Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Heath.

By the first week of August, Wayfarer and Mr. Baldoni had retained Ms. Nathan, who had worked with high-profile clients including Mr. Depp, whose ex-wife, Amber Heard, accused him of physical abuse. (…)

Three days later, Mr. Baldoni texted Ms. Abel, flagging a social media thread that accused another celebrity of bullying behavior and had generated 19 million views. “This is what we would need,” he wrote.

Ms. Nathan soon floated proposals to hire contractors to dominate social media through “full social account take downs,” by starting “threads of theories” and generally working to “change narrative.”

“All of this will be most importantly untraceable,” she wrote. (…)

When Ms. Abel wrote to her Aug. 4 that “I’m having reckless thoughts of wanting to plant pieces this week of how horrible Blake is to work with. Just to get ahead of it,” Ms. Nathan replied that she had spoken off the record to an editor at The Daily Mail.

“She’s ready when we are,” Ms. Nathan wrote.

A flurry of articles followed the Hollywood Reporter piece. Many made it seem as if the only rift was over creative control.

Some journalists had gotten wind of complaints about Mr. Baldoni’s behavior, but none of the most serious ones were published.

“He doesn’t realise how lucky he is right now,” Ms. Nathan texted Ms. Abel. (…)

It is unclear exactly how Mr. Wallace operated.

There are references in emails to “social manipulation” and “proactive fan posting,” and text messages cite efforts to “boost” and “amplify” online content that was favorable to Mr. Baldoni or critical of Ms. Lively.

“We are crushing it on Reddit,” Mr. Wallace told Ms. Nathan, according to a text she sent Ms. Abel on Aug. 9.

The next day, one of Ms. Nathan’s employees texted, “We’ve started to see shift on social, due largely to Jed and his team’s efforts to shift the narrative.”

Ms. Nathan wrote to Ms. Abel: “And socials are really really ramping up. In his favour, she must be furious. It’s actually sad because it just shows you have people really want to hate on women.” (…)

On Aug. 16, Ms. Nathan shared the Daily Mail article headlined “Is Blake Lively set to be CANCELLED?” with references to ‘hard to watch’ videos and a ‘tone deaf’ promotional Q. and A.

“Wow. You really outdid yourself with this piece,” Ms. Abel responded.

“That’s why you hired me right?” Ms. Nathan replied. “I’m the best.”"

[envelopandkissme]

[killjoyfem]

Blake Lively is currently suing Justin Baldoni for sexually harassing her during the making of “It Ends With Us”, and the response to it is already deeply disappointing, to say the least.

Congratulations to everyone who keeps falling for misogynistic smear campaigns against women and going to battle to defend the abusive men orchestrating them. It is always “believe victims” until it’s a woman you dislike.

[faithlesslovee]

and they were calling him a feminist king

source

[newwavesylviaplath]

i still don't like blake lively. never have, never will. i 100% believe her though. i feel like this is gonna be one of those things where people disregard whatever allegations are made just because the person making them can't be painted as the 'perfect' victim. which is dumb as shit cuz like yeah blake seems to be an asshole but even people you don't like can get ass4ulted.

[coolranchdoritoo]

I stand with Blake, I knew there was something really fishy about the way people were all of a sudden finding "reasons" to hate on her left and right. She has proof and receipts in case anyone is doubting her btw.

Click here for the full article

[iloveu-imsrry]

justin baldoni and sc**ter br**n they could never make me like you

[plxviophile]

blake lively can have a shitty personality & be a victim of harassment. two truths can exist.

[fallingforfictionalmen]

I don’t LOVE blake lively but I did read the full complaint against justin badaloni and holy shit?? it’s so upsetting to not only read the messages his team was sending about “burying her” but also to read about the things he did to her and tried to get away with??

and she had to go thru so much backlash, like imagine you have to do press with someone who sexually harassed and assaulted you and so you invite your husband to make you feel better and the internet just rips you and new one while praising your abuser.

am I saying she did everything perfect for the marketing of that movie?? fuck no. and hell, maybe everything she says in the formal complaint isn’t true. but enough of it is literally proven through messages and screenshots, and for almost every other point she had multiple witness (besides justin’s team, who quite literally witnessed and have proof of it all) who will testify in court when it goes there.

you don’t have to like someone to believe their personal testimony and not tear them down without at the very least reading the document. she is not a perfect person, but she did not deserve what happened to her and she doesn’t deserve the internet saying she’s lying without even looking at the proof she’s laying out.

[evilroachindustrial]

So Blake Lively accused the director & a producer of 'It Ends With Us' of inappropriate conduct on set and they responded by launching a smear campaign against her that included hiring Johnny Depp's crisis management people.

Honestly, that certainly feels like it explains everybody seemed to turn on her all at once when the movie came out if there was a concerted effort to boost that kind of shit.

[disconnectedkat]

"We are crushing it on reddit"

People really learned absolutely nothing from the Depp/Heard situation. Or they learned all the wrong lessons.

Context:

‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine

Amber Heard, Angelina Jolie, and now Blake Lively.

Turns out, Lively been the victim of an online smear campaign, headed by the same people who worked with Johnny Depp to target Amber Heard.

It's sad how effective this stuff is. Even a subreddit full of self-proclaimed allies, who claimed to see through Depp's bullshit, fell for it. Why? Because Blake Lively wasn't the perfect victim. She had done something wrong herself, therefore people were all to eager to dismiss her and believe every other negative thing they read.

But the perfect victim doesn't exist. When will people finally learn this?

[doylldonmagar]

it's really striking to me how everyone had so much to say when It Ends With Us was released earlier this year, and Blake Lively was getting slammed for phrasing her promotion of the film like a cute chick flick + the interview she did 8 years ago with Kjersti Flaa, but since news broke that she's suing Justin Baldoni (+ others on his team) over sexual harassment (and the list goes on, this isn't some one off) it's just crickets. Why was the one short interview and a single sentence enough to get everyone talking, but as soon as this woman starts detailing how she and other women on the set were mistreated, now no one is paying attention ??

[anikaskywalkerlives]

Turns out you are not immune to propaganda and the hate Blake Lively recieved online was preplanned after she made sexual harassment complaints on set of the film.

[elysiawynters]

a man's reputation protects him. a woman's reputation destroys her.

[taylornation]

we gather here, we line up, weeping as we watch the first look at It Ends With Us. premieres exclusively in theaters august 9. 🩶

[hollywedits]

Blake Lively at the "It Ends With Us" New York Premiere at AMC Lincoln Square Theater on August 06, 2024 in New York City.