Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni
Getty Images (2)Blake Lively claims that It ends with us actor and director Justin Baldoni who allegedly ran a campaign of “social manipulation” to damage her reputation.
News broke on Saturday, Dec. 21, that Lively, 37, had sued Baldoni, 40, for sexual harassment. per New York Timesthe lawsuit — which was filed on Friday, Dec. 20 — involved “thousands of pages of text messages and emails” that Lively obtained through a subpoena.
In one message, allegedly sent on August 2, a publicist working with the studio and Baldoni wrote to a crisis management expert: “He wants to feel like she can be buried.”
The text messages allegedly show the crisis PR team worked to prevent stories about Baldoni’s behavior and boosted negative ones about Lively. According to the output, Jed Wallace, led a digital strategy that in part boosted social media posts that could help their cause.
Blake Lively is suing ‘It Ends With Us’ co-star Justin Baldoni for sexual harassment. According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ and The New York Times, Baldoni’s alleged behavior caused Lively, 37, “serious emotional distress.” The lawsuit alleges that there was a meeting held to address Lively’s claims that there was “hostile (…)
Wallace sent emails referring to “social manipulation” and “proactive fan posting,” and text messages mentioned efforts to “amplify” and “amplify” online content that was positive about Baldoni or negative about Lively.
“We’re breaking it down on Reddit,” Wallace wrote.
In additional text messages, Baldoni allegedly encouraged the PR team and pointed out social media posts to use. On August 15, he suggested we “turn the narrative” on a positive story about Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynoldsby “using their own words against them.”
The New York Times reports that Baldoni sometimes seeks reassurance about tactics. After spotting an article that was critical of Lively, he wrote: “How can we somehow say we’re not doing any of this – it looks like we’re trying to take her down.”
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s new film It Ends With Us proved to be a box office hit, earning $50 million during its opening weekend. While the cast should be hoping for the film’s success, they have instead found themselves embroiled in controversy as reports swirl of behind-the-scenes drama involving various final parts of (…)
At one point, Baldoni wondered if they had “bot” accounts on social media, which his team denied they did.
Baldoni and others claim in the texts that Lively used her own PR team to generate negative press for him, but cite no evidence. (Lively denied that she or her representatives planted either spread negative information regarding Baldoni.)
Baldoni’s lawyer, Brian Friedmanaddressed Lively’s “completely false, outrageous and intentionally obscene” allegations in a statement to usclaiming that Lively filed the lawsuit to “repair her negative reputation” and “reframe the narrative” of the film’s production.
Friedman further alleged that Lively made “numerous demands and threats” while filming It ends with usincluding “threatening not to appear on set, threatening not to promote the film, ultimately leading to his death during release if her demands were not met.”
us reached out to Lively’s rep for comment, but did not immediately hear back. In a statement to New York Times regarding her lawsuit, Lively said, “I hope my lawsuit helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to hurt people who speak up about wrongdoing, and helps protect others who may be targeted.” “
