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Reportedly, Blake Lively has accused Justin Baldoni of s*xual harassment. In the legal complaint filed against Baldoni with the California Civil Rights Department, Lively claims that her It Ends With Us director and co-star allegedly attempted to launch a smear campaign against her and that his behavior caused "severe emotional harm" to her and her family.
One of the allegations in Blake Lively's complaint against Justin Baldoni was that he switched marketing strategies, a multi-layered plan, using social manipulation to allegedly "destroy" Lively's public reputation.
According to a report by Business Insider dated December 22, 2024, the lawsuit mentions that Justin Baldoni hired a crisis communications specialist from The Agency Group, Melissa Nathan, on July 31, 2024, at the recommendation of his publicist Jennifer Abel.
Blake Lively's complaint mentioned:
"What Ms. Nathan proposed included a practice known as 'Astroturfing,' which has been defined as 'the practice of publishing opinions or comments on the internet, in the media, etc. that appear to come from ordinary members of the public but actually come from a particular company or political group."
As per BigCommerce, astroturfing is a term used for messages or campaigns that look like they occur naturally but are actually being determined by a company. Astroturfing conceals the business and financial associations between the message and the originating firm, making these messages acceptable to a public that might reject direct propaganda.
In the context of astroturfing, the complaint states that Justin Baldoni and his team would:
"feed pieces of this manufactured content to unwitting reporters, making content go viral in order to influence public opinion and thereby cause an organic pile-on."
Blake Lively's allegations against Justin Baldoni in the lawsuit explored
According to a report by Variety dated December 21, 2024, a meeting was held in January 2024 to address Blake Lively's claims and demands to resume work on It Ends With Us, and her husband Ryan Reynolds was reportedly present at the meeting. The lawsuit mentions that Lively complained that Baldoni allegedly pressured her to talk about his s*x life and her religious beliefs.
Additionally, the complaint states that one of the movie's producers, Jamey Heath and Baldoni, entered the Green Lantern actress' makeup trailer without getting her permission first when she was "breastfeeding her infant child." The complaint mentions that all the behaviors discussed at the meeting were compiled in a document shared with Wayfarer Studios, which it found reasonable and essential for the parties involved.
Blake Lively's lawsuit also alleges that Justin Baldoni added improvised nude scenes and s*xual content to It Ends With Us without the actress' consent or knowledge. The actress claimed that Baldoni asked her about her s*xual encounters with her husband which she found "invasive and refused to discuss". The complaint mentions:
"When Ms. Lively objected to these additions, Mr. Baldoni insisted he had added them because he was making the film 'through the female gaze.'"
In her lawsuit, Blake Lively alleged that she and other cast members had decided to promote It Ends With Us through a marketing plan created by the movie's distributor, Sony Pictures Entertainment.
While the original marketing plan encouraged to emphasize the strength of Lively's character, Baldoni "abruptly pivoted away" from the same and promoted "survivor content" by focusing on the domestic violence storyline.
Moreover, the complaint stated that Justin Baldoni was allegedly desperate to dismiss suggestions about him engaging in any inappropriate conduct as that would harm his "carefully curated public image as a feminist ally".
In addition to Justin Baldoni, the All I See Is You actress named 6 other defendants in her lawsuit including crisis communications professional Melissa Nathan, Wayfarer Studios CEO Jamey Heath and co-founder Steve Sarowitz, Texas-based contractor Jed Wallace, and publicist Jennifer Abel.
