Journalist Kjersti Flaa calls out Blake Lively's alleged "hypocrisy" for sporting Balenciaga post "horrific" campaign

Blake Lively made headlines at the 2024 Super Bowl for donning a Balenciaga x Adidas tracksuit. This sparked backlash from critics who accused her of hypocrisy in light of Balenciaga's contentious 2022 advertising campaign. Many criticized Lively, questioning the star's choice to endorse the company in the wake of its previous issues, the latest being Kjersti Flaa in a recent video on her podcast.

In late 2022, Balenciaga was the target of intense criticism for an advertisement campaign that featured documents mentioning child abuse statutes and children holding teddy bears in bondage gear.

On April 8, 2025, Kjersti Flaa took to her podcast, Flaawsome Talk, to mention the "horrific" Balenciaga campaign.

"Balenciaga is promoting this horrific marketing campaign that everyone is like, 'What the f are they thinking?' It was with children, with teddy bears, it was bondage, it was just, like, outrageous," she stated.

She then went on to point out Blake Lively's choice to wear a Balenciaga tracksuit during the 2024 Super Bowl, calling out Lively for her alleged "hypocrisy."

"I think it just shows the hypocrisy of Blake Lively and other celebrities that are pretending to do so much good in the world, and what they're doing is basically just interested in promoting themselves," she said.

Flaa compared this moment to Salma Hayek honoring Blake Lively at Variety's Power of Women luncheon in April 2017. As per Variety, during her acceptance speech, Lively talked about the importance of safeguarding children and eradicating child p*rnography from the Internet.

Kjersti implied that Blake was a hypocrite for staying silent amidst the 2022 Balenciaga controversy, despite the latter having proclaimed "how important it is to protect children" in 2017. She also criticized the actress's choice to support the brand by wearing it during the 2024 Super Bowl.

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More about the 2022 Balenciaga scandal

As reported by The New York Times on November 28, 2022, Balenciaga released two advertisement campaigns on November 16, 2022, that provoked public backlash. One campaign featured photos of children holding teddy bears adorned in bondage wear, while the other showcased a handbag resting on documents that highlighted child abuse.

On November 28, 2022, both the CEO and the artistic director of Balenciaga issued public statements of apology, admitting their errors and listing a series of actions the brand took to correct its ways.

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Kjersti Flaa's statements about Blake Lively

Norwegian journalist Kjersti Flaa has made numerous claims on her YouTube channel about Blake Lively amidst her lawsuit against It Ends With Us director Justin Baldoni. On April 6, 2025, Flaa discussed a piece of resurfaced footage that she believed would "absolutely be used" by Baldoni's legal team.

The footage depicts Blake Lively's character in the movie A Simple Favor, grabbing her co-star Henry Golding's character's private parts, a scene Lively admitted to improvising.

Flaa stated that this footage would be crucial in Baldoni's defense, as this contradicted Lively's claims against Baldoni, where she accused Justin of s*xually harassing her using improvisations.

Justin Baldoni, "It Ends With Us" - New York Premiere (Image via Getty)

In a later video, posted on April 7, Kjersti also questioned the truth about Lively's hair care brand, Blake Brown. Lively, in her lawsuit, claims that her brand lost a majority of its income due to the alleged smear campaign propagated by Baldoni.

However, Flaa presented reports stating that Blake Brown made over $16 million in their first week and had also received a Beauty Inc. award in 2024.

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Blake Lively is yet to comment on Kjersti Flaa's statements.