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Anonymous wrote:To me it looks more like a coordinated effort against Baldoni because he is much lower on the Hollywood power structure than Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds.I had never even heard of Justin Baldoni until this movie, but I have known about Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds for years, even though I have never seen Gossip Girl or a Deadpool film.
A coordinated effort with backing by the author of the book and other cast members on set. Sure, sure.
I actually think it's hard to deny that Lively and Reynolds have been coordinating an attack on Baldoni (legally and in the press) with their lawyers and PR people since the strike hiatus. I think the attack was prompted by Baldoni's on set behavior, so he brought it on himself, but it's pretty clear that the lawsuit and recent PR attack (including the NYT piece that was quite clearly planted by Lively's team and is kind of weird in it's focus) are part of a multi step and coordinated campaign. They are incredibly wealthy and no doubt see this as a necessary action to protect their brand.
Now explain why Baldoni launched a preemptive strike.
Bad blood on set, Reynolds being brought in to write scenes, Reynolds doing his own cut if the movie and that's the cut that was released, Lively freezing out Baldoni during promotion of the film, potentially Lively trying to undermine the film with some if her antics during promotion (her weird responses on DV issues, using film events to promote her branded products). Baldoni likely could already see Lively/Reynolds building a narrative against him and sought to undermine her in the press.
It really looks to me like they were both playing stupid games with this movie. I think they just didn't like each other, both have bad personalities and have done weird/inappropriate things, and now it's just a battle of publicists and lawyers to see who is left standing. It will be Lively but it's not really a fair fight.
You really haven't read the docs, have you?
Why would anyone care to "read the docs" when they are not getting paid to? If people have to read the docs to be convinced after all of this publicity, then Lively is losing.
People need to understand how things look to someone who has a few minutes for celebrity gossip. And it looks like two of the richest people in Hollywood trying to convince me that one of them was victimized by a much lesser known actor and director.
So keep supporting your winning horse, then.
DP. I think generally if you’re commenting on something, particularly a controversy, it makes sense to be informed first. I read the complaint because I am a lawyer and was curious about the legal case here, but I understand why not everyone wants to do that. But if you care enough to comment on this thread, you should read the NYT article at minimum.
I do think both sides are using/have used strategic PR. I don’t know either one of them personally, so this is based entirely on media narratives, but I don’t think Blake Lively is a perfect person or an aspirational celebrity. But the complaint (as summarized in the NYT article) alleges sexual harassment during the filming of the movie and some really shitty motivations (preemptive retaliation) for the alleged smear campaign that any decent person should be horrified by.
Whether this lawsuit is also motivated by money or ego or whatever, I don’t know, and it’s possible.
But if those allegations are true, I really don’t care what the secondary motivations are. She still doesn’t deserve that behavior and I am glad she’s standing up to it.
Exactly this. And I'm horrified that others on this thread don't get this.
I don't think it's that people don't get it.
I think the details in the complaint sound really bad if it happened as described. It's just that as I've read more about the situation I've become more skeptical that the complaint is an accurate reporting. There have been some details that don't sit well with me and given that the power disparity between the two parties actually runs in favor of Lively in this specific instance (which is not typical in a scenario where a male director is alleged to have harassed a female actor but is the case here), I think it's worthwhile to proceed with cautious.
I am a survivor of workplace sexual harassment and experienced being smeared by my harasser in order to discredit my allegations. My initial instinct was to be fully on Lively's side here. But I'm thrown by the power issues. My own personal experience tells me that power differentials are central to these scenarios. In my case, the person who harassed me had a lot more power than me in the workplace and they were supported by a bunch of people who depended on the harasser for their jobs. I never stood a chance because I was a recent hire, newer to the industry, and low ranking in the organization -- no one wanted to believe me because doing so couldn't help their careers at all, whereas supporting my harasser *could* (and did) benefit them.
So after initially thinking a totally support Lively, I've realized I need to be more thoughtful. Because while the harassment alleged certainly makes Baldoni look like the aggressor and bad actor, the power dynamics don't. In this scenario, Lively had more power on that set and it is far more beneficial for others to support her than to support Baldoni.
I'm not saying she wasn't harassed and definitely not saying Baldoni is a good guy. But I am not buying into a narrative that this is a clearcut case of harassment because the power issues are way more complex. Lively had more power and control. That doesn't mean Baldoni didn't do what is alleged, but it changes my perception a lot and makes me ask some questions about what Lively did or didn't do (like why wasn't there an intimacy coordinator on set from the start -- that is something Lively would have had control over as star and co-producer). It raises questions.