Blake Lively- Jason Baldoni and NYT - False Light claims

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I mean, clearly we're not going to convince one another here. Somehow this guy specifically hires the same PR firm as Amber Heard so that Lively can be decimated in the same way online -- to the extent that Baldoni wonders if the PR people are going hard enough, multiple times, except he draws the line at bots that look like bots because he doesn't want it coming back at him -- classy. This is the guy who has become some sort of cultural hero to you who you want to win $300 million. I think that's sad. *shrug*

So what should he have done? Honest question. He hired a crisis PR firm, it’s hard to believe if this were your husband or friend you wouldn’t support him doing that.

I think Hollywood PR is a nasty business for sure but she gave him no choice. She had 45 plus million followers (she’s lost a few hundred thousand recently). She leaked that she was fat shamed and worse. She banned him from the premiere, and was setting up to take over the sequel. People were starting to speculate and who could blame them? Wow, he must’ve really acted horribly onset. He must be a harasser or abuser. This is not great if you’re trying to build up your career as a producer and a director and a podcaster. And sure enough She ended up going to the meet to writer of the New York Times. And I think her PR team completely swayed the times as we have seen because they did really sloppy reporting and even if they don’t end up losing this case, a lot of people have questioned their tactics here and whether it was fair reporting.

There were texts to the PR team showing how scared he was of her. He knew more was coming and he was trying to be proactive and no one could freaking blame him. It seems like he hired the right guy with Freedman. I don’t exactly like the guy, but I think he’s been smart and how he has handled this.

He didn't sound scared to me when he was saying he didn't think the PR firm had his back enough, or when he was sending around a picture of some embattled woman saying "this is exactly the kind of thing we need" or when he was saying oh but wait let's not use bots (because that would be too obvious). He sounded like he was hiring a service to decimate someone he hated. He is not some victim for hiring this PR firm that destroyed Amber Heard's life. I don't feel sorry for him for doing that. That wasn't his only way out.

I don't agree with much of what you say above (she didn't ban him from the premier, he watched it in a different theater in the same building, walked the red carpet, etc). He made a sh!t ton of money on the film, and yet somehow the social media accounts of all the women were attacked. Maybe the lawyers should have gotten together and tried harder to work out some sort of agreement that both sides could have been happy with. Maybe he should have taken his pile of money, bit his tongue, and said something nice about Lively that was perhaps less than she originally wanted but more than he originally did, and worked it out and gone to the finish line together. And maybe, just maybe, he shouldn't ever have done some of this stuff on set in the first place. One thing he certainly should not have done is hired the same PR firm that took down Amber Heard and told them to go even harder than they were planning to, especially when he specifically agreed that he would not retaliate against Lively in the first place. That's why the NYT got involved in the first place, which is how everybody heard about this case. For that, he's the villain to me and not the victim.

He didn’t do anything to her let’s get that straight. I have heard zero inappropriate stuff including that she invited him in her trailer breast feeding and he questioned whether he should go. Was that a set up? Was the txt in the middle of the night a set up? It’s his movie and why is his name
not on it? He was also starring and is not on any of the posters? Why did he have to go to the basement at the premiere? It was crazy? His mistake was being to nice and trying to let her crazy behavior go. Can you imagine telling Robert Dinero to sit in the basement for a premiere? He would have said no it is
my movie. Sheesh

If you look at her allegations and honestly think that he did "zero inappropriate stuff," then we just see the case very differently and will not be able to agree on much at all.

You are moving the goal post. Justin is not the perfect victim for sure. He probably could’ve done better on that set. But to say that he deserved to have his whole career trashed and his reputation in the toilet forever so that Blake and Ryan could get another high grossing movie under their belt is insane. And you know it, you just have nothing left so you’re just going to keep posting about random slightly inappropriate behavior that was really not that bad and probably tame compared to what happens on most sets.

I didn't move the goalposts, I responded to a PP who said, literally word for word, "He didn't do anything to her let's get that straight. I have heard zero inappropriate stuff including that she invited him in her trailer breast feeding and he questioned whether he should go." I'm responding to PP who is literally comparing Justin Baldoni to Robert De Niro, so in all fairness I really don't think I'm the one moving the goalposts here, but in any case I suspect we're just not going to agree.

You are nitpicking. Simply nitpicking about minor offenses when Ryan and Blake literally threw a bomb into this man’s house.

Funny thing is, it doesn’t even matter. Even if Blake and Ryan win this lawsuit, they will never be seen in the same light again. 10 years from now, people are still going to be saying “hi kaleesi!” in Blake’s social media posts. She’s never going to live that down.

No more double date nights with Taylor either lol. she burned that bridge by dragging her into the drama.

And I’d be shocked if she ever did a movie that Ryan doesn’t produce. Men are going to be very wary of working with her.

They did not literally throw a bomb under his house? What?

What is it you think they did that is so much worse than what he is alleged to have done. I genuinely don't understand.

NP. Obviously she didn’t mean literally but we all get it, and agree. Ryan and Blake went nuclear and then BL ran to play the victim. No one’s buying it

See, I feel JB is playing the victim. He makes it sound like he had no agency in any of this. That anything he might have done wrong was just a misunderstanding, and that everything bad that happened was the result if malice on the other side. I don't buy it.

I wonder if all of us who can “buy it”have had firsthand experiences with narcissistic people. I’m not saying she’s a narcissist or that he is innocent —I’m just wondering where the deep divide stems from. I have been on the wrong end of offending a narcissist (or some similar personality disorder), and it’s truly terrifying how they can turn on you and actually believe they are the victim. It takes a minute for you to catch up! Your first instinct is that you are misunderstood, so you try even harder, but they just feed off of it and then they think you are weak. And then while they’re busy being evil to you, they will work that much harder to make others love them. I can imagine that happened here. It’s possible it didn’t.

I'm PP and I find them both to have narcissistic tendencies. I think Baldoni has a tendency towards vulnerable narcissism (where he is constantly sympathy seeking and using his supposed deficiencies or challenges as an excuse for never being accountable and always being the center of attention). Lively strikes me as someone with Main Character Syndrome, though I suspect that's very common in Hollywood.

This makes a lot of sense.

I especially see this with his health issues. I used to work for a vulnerable narcissist and she was like this. She always has an ailment she was nursing, she over shared a lot about it, and it was a frequently used excuse for her bad behavior. Baldoni is like this with his back issues, which seems to flare up when he is feeling threatened or stressed. Now, I do believe in the mind-body connection and i believe he has back issues, but narcissists will lean into it for sympathy any time they are getting criticism -- it detracts from valid criticism and changes the subject.

He also does this in his communications a lot -- very sympathy seeking and woe is me in his texts and emails to both fellow producers and to Blake. He likes being the victim.

It can be a really tough personality because it's very hard to ever have a direct conversation about Amy if their flaws or mistakes. They are brilliant at twisting it around. The focus is always on how your criticism hurt them, and never on whatever it was you were criticizing them for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, clearly we're not going to convince one another here. Somehow this guy specifically hires the same PR firm as Amber Heard so that Lively can be decimated in the same way online -- to the extent that Baldoni wonders if the PR people are going hard enough, multiple times, except he draws the line at bots that look like bots because he doesn't want it coming back at him -- classy. This is the guy who has become some sort of cultural hero to you who you want to win $300 million. I think that's sad. *shrug*

So what should he have done? Honest question. He hired a crisis PR firm, it’s hard to believe if this were your husband or friend you wouldn’t support him doing that.

I think Hollywood PR is a nasty business for sure but she gave him no choice. She had 45 plus million followers (she’s lost a few hundred thousand recently). She leaked that she was fat shamed and worse. She banned him from the premiere, and was setting up to take over the sequel. People were starting to speculate and who could blame them? Wow, he must’ve really acted horribly onset. He must be a harasser or abuser. This is not great if you’re trying to build up your career as a producer and a director and a podcaster. And sure enough She ended up going to the meet to writer of the New York Times. And I think her PR team completely swayed the times as we have seen because they did really sloppy reporting and even if they don’t end up losing this case, a lot of people have questioned their tactics here and whether it was fair reporting.

There were texts to the PR team showing how scared he was of her. He knew more was coming and he was trying to be proactive and no one could freaking blame him. It seems like he hired the right guy with Freedman. I don’t exactly like the guy, but I think he’s been smart and how he has handled this.

He didn't sound scared to me when he was saying he didn't think the PR firm had his back enough, or when he was sending around a picture of some embattled woman saying "this is exactly the kind of thing we need" or when he was saying oh but wait let's not use bots (because that would be too obvious). He sounded like he was hiring a service to decimate someone he hated. He is not some victim for hiring this PR firm that destroyed Amber Heard's life. I don't feel sorry for him for doing that. That wasn't his only way out.

I don't agree with much of what you say above (she didn't ban him from the premier, he watched it in a different theater in the same building, walked the red carpet, etc). He made a sh!t ton of money on the film, and yet somehow the social media accounts of all the women were attacked. Maybe the lawyers should have gotten together and tried harder to work out some sort of agreement that both sides could have been happy with. Maybe he should have taken his pile of money, bit his tongue, and said something nice about Lively that was perhaps less than she originally wanted but more than he originally did, and worked it out and gone to the finish line together. And maybe, just maybe, he shouldn't ever have done some of this stuff on set in the first place. One thing he certainly should not have done is hired the same PR firm that took down Amber Heard and told them to go even harder than they were planning to, especially when he specifically agreed that he would not retaliate against Lively in the first place. That's why the NYT got involved in the first place, which is how everybody heard about this case. For that, he's the villain to me and not the victim.

He didn’t do anything to her let’s get that straight. I have heard zero inappropriate stuff including that she invited him in her trailer breast feeding and he questioned whether he should go. Was that a set up? Was the txt in the middle of the night a set up? It’s his movie and why is his name
not on it? He was also starring and is not on any of the posters? Why did he have to go to the basement at the premiere? It was crazy? His mistake was being to nice and trying to let her crazy behavior go. Can you imagine telling Robert Dinero to sit in the basement for a premiere? He would have said no it is
my movie. Sheesh

If you look at her allegations and honestly think that he did "zero inappropriate stuff," then we just see the case very differently and will not be able to agree on much at all.

I agree with this. This is where I have a hard time with the very pro-Baldoni crowd. Even if you only read HIS complaint, there is stuff he admits to doing that I'm like "wtf." I don't consider myself pro-Lively so much as in favor of letting the litigation hopefully reveal the truth, which I think is likely somewhere between their two narratives. But I have some serious side eye for both of them on some of their behavior, including Baldoni and Heath for sure. And actually, that's why I feel like we need to wait for more info, hear from 3rd parties, etc. Because it's clear to me that they did some stuff that I personally think is inappropriate but are now trying to justify it. Even if what they did doesn't rise to the legal level of sexual harassment, I have questions.

I think you’re misunderstanding the proBaldoni crowd. You’re probably right that the truth is somewhere in the middle. The problem is only one person is trying to destroy the other. The both sides crowd wants to give Blake a pass for her vile behavior while Justin gets put in the basement, dropped from his agency and blacklisted in Hollywood. The problem with the both sides argument is one side is being disproportionately harmed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, clearly we're not going to convince one another here. Somehow this guy specifically hires the same PR firm as Amber Heard so that Lively can be decimated in the same way online -- to the extent that Baldoni wonders if the PR people are going hard enough, multiple times, except he draws the line at bots that look like bots because he doesn't want it coming back at him -- classy. This is the guy who has become some sort of cultural hero to you who you want to win $300 million. I think that's sad. *shrug*

So what should he have done? Honest question. He hired a crisis PR firm, it’s hard to believe if this were your husband or friend you wouldn’t support him doing that.

I think Hollywood PR is a nasty business for sure but she gave him no choice. She had 45 plus million followers (she’s lost a few hundred thousand recently). She leaked that she was fat shamed and worse. She banned him from the premiere, and was setting up to take over the sequel. People were starting to speculate and who could blame them? Wow, he must’ve really acted horribly onset. He must be a harasser or abuser. This is not great if you’re trying to build up your career as a producer and a director and a podcaster. And sure enough She ended up going to the meet to writer of the New York Times. And I think her PR team completely swayed the times as we have seen because they did really sloppy reporting and even if they don’t end up losing this case, a lot of people have questioned their tactics here and whether it was fair reporting.

There were texts to the PR team showing how scared he was of her. He knew more was coming and he was trying to be proactive and no one could freaking blame him. It seems like he hired the right guy with Freedman. I don’t exactly like the guy, but I think he’s been smart and how he has handled this.

He didn't sound scared to me when he was saying he didn't think the PR firm had his back enough, or when he was sending around a picture of some embattled woman saying "this is exactly the kind of thing we need" or when he was saying oh but wait let's not use bots (because that would be too obvious). He sounded like he was hiring a service to decimate someone he hated. He is not some victim for hiring this PR firm that destroyed Amber Heard's life. I don't feel sorry for him for doing that. That wasn't his only way out.

I don't agree with much of what you say above (she didn't ban him from the premier, he watched it in a different theater in the same building, walked the red carpet, etc). He made a sh!t ton of money on the film, and yet somehow the social media accounts of all the women were attacked. Maybe the lawyers should have gotten together and tried harder to work out some sort of agreement that both sides could have been happy with. Maybe he should have taken his pile of money, bit his tongue, and said something nice about Lively that was perhaps less than she originally wanted but more than he originally did, and worked it out and gone to the finish line together. And maybe, just maybe, he shouldn't ever have done some of this stuff on set in the first place. One thing he certainly should not have done is hired the same PR firm that took down Amber Heard and told them to go even harder than they were planning to, especially when he specifically agreed that he would not retaliate against Lively in the first place. That's why the NYT got involved in the first place, which is how everybody heard about this case. For that, he's the villain to me and not the victim.

He didn’t do anything to her let’s get that straight. I have heard zero inappropriate stuff including that she invited him in her trailer breast feeding and he questioned whether he should go. Was that a set up? Was the txt in the middle of the night a set up? It’s his movie and why is his name
not on it? He was also starring and is not on any of the posters? Why did he have to go to the basement at the premiere? It was crazy? His mistake was being to nice and trying to let her crazy behavior go. Can you imagine telling Robert Dinero to sit in the basement for a premiere? He would have said no it is
my movie. Sheesh

If you look at her allegations and honestly think that he did "zero inappropriate stuff," then we just see the case very differently and will not be able to agree on much at all.

You are moving the goal post. Justin is not the perfect victim for sure. He probably could’ve done better on that set. But to say that he deserved to have his whole career trashed and his reputation in the toilet forever so that Blake and Ryan could get another high grossing movie under their belt is insane. And you know it, you just have nothing left so you’re just going to keep posting about random slightly inappropriate behavior that was really not that bad and probably tame compared to what happens on most sets.

I didn't move the goalposts, I responded to a PP who said, literally word for word, "He didn't do anything to her let's get that straight. I have heard zero inappropriate stuff including that she invited him in her trailer breast feeding and he questioned whether he should go." I'm responding to PP who is literally comparing Justin Baldoni to Robert De Niro, so in all fairness I really don't think I'm the one moving the goalposts here, but in any case I suspect we're just not going to agree.

You are nitpicking. Simply nitpicking about minor offenses when Ryan and Blake literally threw a bomb into this man’s house.

Funny thing is, it doesn’t even matter. Even if Blake and Ryan win this lawsuit, they will never be seen in the same light again. 10 years from now, people are still going to be saying “hi kaleesi!” in Blake’s social media posts. She’s never going to live that down.

No more double date nights with Taylor either lol. she burned that bridge by dragging her into the drama.

And I’d be shocked if she ever did a movie that Ryan doesn’t produce. Men are going to be very wary of working with her.

They did not literally throw a bomb under his house? What?

What is it you think they did that is so much worse than what he is alleged to have done. I genuinely don't understand.

NP. Obviously she didn’t mean literally but we all get it, and agree. Ryan and Blake went nuclear and then BL ran to play the victim. No one’s buying it

See, I feel JB is playing the victim. He makes it sound like he had no agency in any of this. That anything he might have done wrong was just a misunderstanding, and that everything bad that happened was the result if malice on the other side. I don't buy it.

I wonder if all of us who can “buy it”have had firsthand experiences with narcissistic people. I’m not saying she’s a narcissist or that he is innocent —I’m just wondering where the deep divide stems from. I have been on the wrong end of offending a narcissist (or some similar personality disorder), and it’s truly terrifying how they can turn on you and actually believe they are the victim. It takes a minute for you to catch up! Your first instinct is that you are misunderstood, so you try even harder, but they just feed off of it and then they think you are weak. And then while they’re busy being evil to you, they will work that much harder to make others love them. I can imagine that happened here. It’s possible it didn’t.

I'm PP and I find them both to have narcissistic tendencies. I think Baldoni has a tendency towards vulnerable narcissism (where he is constantly sympathy seeking and using his supposed deficiencies or challenges as an excuse for never being accountable and always being the center of attention). Lively strikes me as someone with Main Character Syndrome, though I suspect that's very common in Hollywood.

This makes a lot of sense.

I especially see this with his health issues. I used to work for a vulnerable narcissist and she was like this. She always has an ailment she was nursing, she over shared a lot about it, and it was a frequently used excuse for her bad behavior. Baldoni is like this with his back issues, which seems to flare up when he is feeling threatened or stressed. Now, I do believe in the mind-body connection and i believe he has back issues, but narcissists will lean into it for sympathy any time they are getting criticism -- it detracts from valid criticism and changes the subject.

He also does this in his communications a lot -- very sympathy seeking and woe is me in his texts and emails to both fellow producers and to Blake. He likes being the victim.

It can be a really tough personality because it's very hard to ever have a direct conversation about Amy if their flaws or mistakes. They are brilliant at twisting it around. The focus is always on how your criticism hurt them, and never on whatever it was you were criticizing them for.

You are really reaching here. Your girl dropped a big fat nothing burger in her amended complaint so this is what you’ve come up with to defend her?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, clearly we're not going to convince one another here. Somehow this guy specifically hires the same PR firm as Amber Heard so that Lively can be decimated in the same way online -- to the extent that Baldoni wonders if the PR people are going hard enough, multiple times, except he draws the line at bots that look like bots because he doesn't want it coming back at him -- classy. This is the guy who has become some sort of cultural hero to you who you want to win $300 million. I think that's sad. *shrug*

So what should he have done? Honest question. He hired a crisis PR firm, it’s hard to believe if this were your husband or friend you wouldn’t support him doing that.

I think Hollywood PR is a nasty business for sure but she gave him no choice. She had 45 plus million followers (she’s lost a few hundred thousand recently). She leaked that she was fat shamed and worse. She banned him from the premiere, and was setting up to take over the sequel. People were starting to speculate and who could blame them? Wow, he must’ve really acted horribly onset. He must be a harasser or abuser. This is not great if you’re trying to build up your career as a producer and a director and a podcaster. And sure enough She ended up going to the meet to writer of the New York Times. And I think her PR team completely swayed the times as we have seen because they did really sloppy reporting and even if they don’t end up losing this case, a lot of people have questioned their tactics here and whether it was fair reporting.

There were texts to the PR team showing how scared he was of her. He knew more was coming and he was trying to be proactive and no one could freaking blame him. It seems like he hired the right guy with Freedman. I don’t exactly like the guy, but I think he’s been smart and how he has handled this.

He didn't sound scared to me when he was saying he didn't think the PR firm had his back enough, or when he was sending around a picture of some embattled woman saying "this is exactly the kind of thing we need" or when he was saying oh but wait let's not use bots (because that would be too obvious). He sounded like he was hiring a service to decimate someone he hated. He is not some victim for hiring this PR firm that destroyed Amber Heard's life. I don't feel sorry for him for doing that. That wasn't his only way out.

I don't agree with much of what you say above (she didn't ban him from the premier, he watched it in a different theater in the same building, walked the red carpet, etc). He made a sh!t ton of money on the film, and yet somehow the social media accounts of all the women were attacked. Maybe the lawyers should have gotten together and tried harder to work out some sort of agreement that both sides could have been happy with. Maybe he should have taken his pile of money, bit his tongue, and said something nice about Lively that was perhaps less than she originally wanted but more than he originally did, and worked it out and gone to the finish line together. And maybe, just maybe, he shouldn't ever have done some of this stuff on set in the first place. One thing he certainly should not have done is hired the same PR firm that took down Amber Heard and told them to go even harder than they were planning to, especially when he specifically agreed that he would not retaliate against Lively in the first place. That's why the NYT got involved in the first place, which is how everybody heard about this case. For that, he's the villain to me and not the victim.

He didn’t do anything to her let’s get that straight. I have heard zero inappropriate stuff including that she invited him in her trailer breast feeding and he questioned whether he should go. Was that a set up? Was the txt in the middle of the night a set up? It’s his movie and why is his name
not on it? He was also starring and is not on any of the posters? Why did he have to go to the basement at the premiere? It was crazy? His mistake was being to nice and trying to let her crazy behavior go. Can you imagine telling Robert Dinero to sit in the basement for a premiere? He would have said no it is
my movie. Sheesh

If you look at her allegations and honestly think that he did "zero inappropriate stuff," then we just see the case very differently and will not be able to agree on much at all.

I agree with this. This is where I have a hard time with the very pro-Baldoni crowd. Even if you only read HIS complaint, there is stuff he admits to doing that I'm like "wtf." I don't consider myself pro-Lively so much as in favor of letting the litigation hopefully reveal the truth, which I think is likely somewhere between their two narratives. But I have some serious side eye for both of them on some of their behavior, including Baldoni and Heath for sure. And actually, that's why I feel like we need to wait for more info, hear from 3rd parties, etc. Because it's clear to me that they did some stuff that I personally think is inappropriate but are now trying to justify it. Even if what they did doesn't rise to the legal level of sexual harassment, I have questions.

I'm with you. I tend to think she is a diva, he did some inappropriate things that were not best practice but maybe not sexual harassment, she raised issues partially because she was uncomfortable and partially for leverage, he couldn't control her "creative input" so she just kept going and going and every time he thought he would finally get her to sign her damned contract by giving in to her crazy demands she was just like "no" and demanded more and more, and he was also legitimately concerned that some of the stuff on set that made her "uncomfortable" was going to cause very bad optics for him because while blown out of proportion it probably wasn't completely made up either. And then there were several instances of both of them upping the ante. If she hadn't cut him out of promotional stuff, he probably wouldn't have hired the crisis PR. If he hadn't hired the crisis PR, she probably wouldn't have gone to the NYT with her complaint. And if she hadn't done that, he wouldn't be counter-suing her and releasing all this tea that makes her look like a joke (the texts, the videos). And she's probably going to do something big next that will make it even worse for him (maybe there really are other complaints, who knows). There's so many twists and turns. I can't truly root for either of them, but there will be times when I feel compelled to defend one or the other on this thread.

Yeah, I've been defending Lively in here but I do basically agree with all of this. They both overreached and could have avoided many of the problems they are encountering by putting on the breaks a little and not acting so aggressively when the other one did something they didn't like.

I think he reached a breaking point - if you read the timeline, he was pretty calm throughout all of her demands during the year plus preproduction, filming, the strike, the rest of filming in post production - I was actually surprised with the nature of how he dealt with editors and other producers. But at some point, you’re just going to reach a breaking point.

Anyone in their right mind would have a hired a crisis PR firm, and yes folks they are all sleazy. This is the real world. But I don’t believe for a minute anyone in the same situation on this thread wouldn’t do the exact damn thing.

And some of you are very naïve about what happens on a movie set. They are all dysfunctional. It’s not a typical work place.

Thank you for your honesty. I would
Have done the same thing JB did when faced with false allegations of SH.

[Anonymous]

There are very few people posting who think JB is blameless.

I find him annoying and cringe who did not handle directing strong personalities well. That’s reason to not work with him again, not set out to steal control of the movie and ruin his life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, clearly we're not going to convince one another here. Somehow this guy specifically hires the same PR firm as Amber Heard so that Lively can be decimated in the same way online -- to the extent that Baldoni wonders if the PR people are going hard enough, multiple times, except he draws the line at bots that look like bots because he doesn't want it coming back at him -- classy. This is the guy who has become some sort of cultural hero to you who you want to win $300 million. I think that's sad. *shrug*

So what should he have done? Honest question. He hired a crisis PR firm, it’s hard to believe if this were your husband or friend you wouldn’t support him doing that.

I think Hollywood PR is a nasty business for sure but she gave him no choice. She had 45 plus million followers (she’s lost a few hundred thousand recently). She leaked that she was fat shamed and worse. She banned him from the premiere, and was setting up to take over the sequel. People were starting to speculate and who could blame them? Wow, he must’ve really acted horribly onset. He must be a harasser or abuser. This is not great if you’re trying to build up your career as a producer and a director and a podcaster. And sure enough She ended up going to the meet to writer of the New York Times. And I think her PR team completely swayed the times as we have seen because they did really sloppy reporting and even if they don’t end up losing this case, a lot of people have questioned their tactics here and whether it was fair reporting.

There were texts to the PR team showing how scared he was of her. He knew more was coming and he was trying to be proactive and no one could freaking blame him. It seems like he hired the right guy with Freedman. I don’t exactly like the guy, but I think he’s been smart and how he has handled this.

He didn't sound scared to me when he was saying he didn't think the PR firm had his back enough, or when he was sending around a picture of some embattled woman saying "this is exactly the kind of thing we need" or when he was saying oh but wait let's not use bots (because that would be too obvious). He sounded like he was hiring a service to decimate someone he hated. He is not some victim for hiring this PR firm that destroyed Amber Heard's life. I don't feel sorry for him for doing that. That wasn't his only way out.

I don't agree with much of what you say above (she didn't ban him from the premier, he watched it in a different theater in the same building, walked the red carpet, etc). He made a sh!t ton of money on the film, and yet somehow the social media accounts of all the women were attacked. Maybe the lawyers should have gotten together and tried harder to work out some sort of agreement that both sides could have been happy with. Maybe he should have taken his pile of money, bit his tongue, and said something nice about Lively that was perhaps less than she originally wanted but more than he originally did, and worked it out and gone to the finish line together. And maybe, just maybe, he shouldn't ever have done some of this stuff on set in the first place. One thing he certainly should not have done is hired the same PR firm that took down Amber Heard and told them to go even harder than they were planning to, especially when he specifically agreed that he would not retaliate against Lively in the first place. That's why the NYT got involved in the first place, which is how everybody heard about this case. For that, he's the villain to me and not the victim.

He didn’t do anything to her let’s get that straight. I have heard zero inappropriate stuff including that she invited him in her trailer breast feeding and he questioned whether he should go. Was that a set up? Was the txt in the middle of the night a set up? It’s his movie and why is his name
not on it? He was also starring and is not on any of the posters? Why did he have to go to the basement at the premiere? It was crazy? His mistake was being to nice and trying to let her crazy behavior go. Can you imagine telling Robert Dinero to sit in the basement for a premiere? He would have said no it is
my movie. Sheesh

DP, but I wonder what Sarowitz was in all this. He's Justin's good buddy, has the deep pockets, willing to spend 100 million on the suit and compares himself to Israel defending itself against Hamas. He's the co-founder of Wayfarer. So why wasn't Justin's name there? If he's willing to spend 100 million now why didn't he put his foot down then for his friend? Could it be because there was some truth in her allegations? She held power on set but by no means all of it.

Oh, please, I don’t think he was going to get involved until they were basically about to be taken down because of the New York Times article. He wanted to protect his investment and I don’t think getting involved in the minutia of movie making while this was going on would’ve been protecting his investment.

Honestly, I don’t think anybody saw this coming including Blake and Ryan. I think they wanted to trash him and take over the movie but they did not expect it to get this far. I don’t think they expected the fans of the book to go after Blake like they, but people were really protective of him and saw through her bullying behavior which has been rumored in Hollywood for years.

The Swedish fashion journalist has said no one contacted her and she put out the interview on her own. I’m sure she saw the bad press that Blake was getting. She finally could have her moment. It was eight years ago and it clearly upset her, and of course, finding out that she was going through infertility when Blake congratulated on her baby bump, I can see why that interview might have stuck with her and why she wanted to get revenge. Just does not seem like that was Justin’s fault at all.

The audacity of them making him read that apology that they wrote! Did people read that apology? First of all it made no sense, it was totally vague, he wasn’t actually apologizing for anything. They just wanted him to put out something to absolve her of every bad thing that she’s ever done and he wouldn’t do it.

It is pretty widely accepted that if she had just left well enough alone after August, this would’ve been all blown over. Yes, she would probably continue to get bad press about her bad interviews, but she also would’ve had the highest grossing film of her career. I don’t think what happened in August was career tanking, yet clearly what has happened since December has been.

Everyone had completely forgotten about August and IEWU by December. There was a whole election in between! She brought this to the fore and escalated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are very few people posting who think JB is blameless.

I find him annoying and cringe who did not handle directing strong personalities well. That’s reason to not work with him again, not set out to steal control of the movie and ruin his life.

but her entire case is that she was just going to let it ride until she learned about the retaliation. if he hadn't hired that sleazy firm, his life would not be "ruined." they both made their beds here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, clearly we're not going to convince one another here. Somehow this guy specifically hires the same PR firm as Amber Heard so that Lively can be decimated in the same way online -- to the extent that Baldoni wonders if the PR people are going hard enough, multiple times, except he draws the line at bots that look like bots because he doesn't want it coming back at him -- classy. This is the guy who has become some sort of cultural hero to you who you want to win $300 million. I think that's sad. *shrug*

So what should he have done? Honest question. He hired a crisis PR firm, it’s hard to believe if this were your husband or friend you wouldn’t support him doing that.

I think Hollywood PR is a nasty business for sure but she gave him no choice. She had 45 plus million followers (she’s lost a few hundred thousand recently). She leaked that she was fat shamed and worse. She banned him from the premiere, and was setting up to take over the sequel. People were starting to speculate and who could blame them? Wow, he must’ve really acted horribly onset. He must be a harasser or abuser. This is not great if you’re trying to build up your career as a producer and a director and a podcaster. And sure enough She ended up going to the meet to writer of the New York Times. And I think her PR team completely swayed the times as we have seen because they did really sloppy reporting and even if they don’t end up losing this case, a lot of people have questioned their tactics here and whether it was fair reporting.

There were texts to the PR team showing how scared he was of her. He knew more was coming and he was trying to be proactive and no one could freaking blame him. It seems like he hired the right guy with Freedman. I don’t exactly like the guy, but I think he’s been smart and how he has handled this.

He didn't sound scared to me when he was saying he didn't think the PR firm had his back enough, or when he was sending around a picture of some embattled woman saying "this is exactly the kind of thing we need" or when he was saying oh but wait let's not use bots (because that would be too obvious). He sounded like he was hiring a service to decimate someone he hated. He is not some victim for hiring this PR firm that destroyed Amber Heard's life. I don't feel sorry for him for doing that. That wasn't his only way out.

I don't agree with much of what you say above (she didn't ban him from the premier, he watched it in a different theater in the same building, walked the red carpet, etc). He made a sh!t ton of money on the film, and yet somehow the social media accounts of all the women were attacked. Maybe the lawyers should have gotten together and tried harder to work out some sort of agreement that both sides could have been happy with. Maybe he should have taken his pile of money, bit his tongue, and said something nice about Lively that was perhaps less than she originally wanted but more than he originally did, and worked it out and gone to the finish line together. And maybe, just maybe, he shouldn't ever have done some of this stuff on set in the first place. One thing he certainly should not have done is hired the same PR firm that took down Amber Heard and told them to go even harder than they were planning to, especially when he specifically agreed that he would not retaliate against Lively in the first place. That's why the NYT got involved in the first place, which is how everybody heard about this case. For that, he's the villain to me and not the victim.

He didn’t do anything to her let’s get that straight. I have heard zero inappropriate stuff including that she invited him in her trailer breast feeding and he questioned whether he should go. Was that a set up? Was the txt in the middle of the night a set up? It’s his movie and why is his name
not on it? He was also starring and is not on any of the posters? Why did he have to go to the basement at the premiere? It was crazy? His mistake was being to nice and trying to let her crazy behavior go. Can you imagine telling Robert Dinero to sit in the basement for a premiere? He would have said no it is
my movie. Sheesh

If you look at her allegations and honestly think that he did "zero inappropriate stuff," then we just see the case very differently and will not be able to agree on much at all.

I agree with this. This is where I have a hard time with the very pro-Baldoni crowd. Even if you only read HIS complaint, there is stuff he admits to doing that I'm like "wtf." I don't consider myself pro-Lively so much as in favor of letting the litigation hopefully reveal the truth, which I think is likely somewhere between their two narratives. But I have some serious side eye for both of them on some of their behavior, including Baldoni and Heath for sure. And actually, that's why I feel like we need to wait for more info, hear from 3rd parties, etc. Because it's clear to me that they did some stuff that I personally think is inappropriate but are now trying to justify it. Even if what they did doesn't rise to the legal level of sexual harassment, I have questions.

I'm with you. I tend to think she is a diva, he did some inappropriate things that were not best practice but maybe not sexual harassment, she raised issues partially because she was uncomfortable and partially for leverage, he couldn't control her "creative input" so she just kept going and going and every time he thought he would finally get her to sign her damned contract by giving in to her crazy demands she was just like "no" and demanded more and more, and he was also legitimately concerned that some of the stuff on set that made her "uncomfortable" was going to cause very bad optics for him because while blown out of proportion it probably wasn't completely made up either. And then there were several instances of both of them upping the ante. If she hadn't cut him out of promotional stuff, he probably wouldn't have hired the crisis PR. If he hadn't hired the crisis PR, she probably wouldn't have gone to the NYT with her complaint. And if she hadn't done that, he wouldn't be counter-suing her and releasing all this tea that makes her look like a joke (the texts, the videos). And she's probably going to do something big next that will make it even worse for him (maybe there really are other complaints, who knows). There's so many twists and turns. I can't truly root for either of them, but there will be times when I feel compelled to defend one or the other on this thread.

This was really upping the ante in an almost unheard of way. I think that's why to a lot of people, even reading her complaint the level of SH she's alleging (even if true) doesn't really seem proportionate to the moves she was able to pull with her power.

[Anonymous]

This part was really dumb. He's taking credit publicly because it ws technically his movie?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I were Justin, I would settle for no less than $300 million

I don’t predict such a sum of cash. Some cash, sure, but likely more-so horse trading with WME and Ari which could generate nine-figures. I think being de facto blackballed by Hollywood elites and studios is the real issue here. And I don’t know how Blake and Ryan walk this back. The only real out for Ryan is to throw his wife under the bus and blame her pathological lies and gaslighting for this entire thing. And then divorce her.

Alternatively, she retracts the lawsuit, divorces him and has some sob story about it was really RR who was upset by everything and she's spent years living under his thumb in a controlling marriage. Either way, must be going great in their house.

Blake couldn't even apologize to the that interviewer. She's not backing down. Ari's not going to force a settlement either. He's defended conor mcgregor who is a known rapist for years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are very few people posting who think JB is blameless.

I find him annoying and cringe who did not handle directing strong personalities well. That’s reason to not work with him again, not set out to steal control of the movie and ruin his life.

I find him a little extra (though not narcissistic). But I’ve been on his side this whole time primarily because someone I know told me he’s a really nice guy to work with. I just can’t get over that endorsement, and then I’ve seen the same types of comments from other women online. So, I just can’t make any narrative actually work but the one Baldoni alleged—that she’s just pretty awful. I will be surprised if these other women actually have concrete real stories of harassment, as opposed to just “yes, Blake texted me that she felt uncomfortable around him.” Because currently that’s what I’m thinking happened there—that Blake lied and other women sympathized with her.

[Anonymous]

Yes it will be interesting to see. She is clear in her amended complaint that someone else experienced similar behaviour and complained as well. It that is really a lie as most think it is given their belief that this was all a long con to get control of the movie and rights and all her allegations are lies to cover for her real reason…then it will become clear at the time of disposition that this second person doesn’t exist. I wonder if Baldoni’s response will outright deny this second complainant exists.

[Anonymous]

I never followed her career but since it seems it was well known that she was a nasty, spiteful, narcissistic bully who treated everyone horribly, I wonder why Baldoni wanted her for the movie? If someone has that reputation in the industry you would think no one would really want to work with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes it will be interesting to see. She is clear in her amended complaint that someone else experienced similar behaviour and complained as well. It that is really a lie as most think it is given their belief that this was all a long con to get control of the movie and rights and all her allegations are lies to cover for her real reason…then it will become clear at the time of disposition that this second person doesn’t exist. I wonder if Baldoni’s response will outright deny this second complainant exists.

I really don't think it's a lie. Jennifer and Melissa thought he was a creep as well. The issue is being uncomfortable is not sexual harrassment. Justin can't deny because from the texts we know Jennifer talked about there being multiple complaints too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes it will be interesting to see. She is clear in her amended complaint that someone else experienced similar behaviour and complained as well. It that is really a lie as most think it is given their belief that this was all a long con to get control of the movie and rights and all her allegations are lies to cover for her real reason…then it will become clear at the time of disposition that this second person doesn’t exist. I wonder if Baldoni’s response will outright deny this second complainant exists.

I really don't think it's a lie. Jennifer and Melissa thought he was a creep as well. The issue is being uncomfortable is not sexual harrassment. Justin can't deny because from the texts we know Jennifer talked about there being multiple complaints too.

Most people on here think it is a lie as her only goal was to take creative control of the movie and get her rights to the next movie and that none of this uncomfortable behaviour she alleges ever happened. That she made it up as a cover. That from day 1 she had created an evil scheme plot to take over the movie.

We don’t know what all happened on set so whether or not it was sexual harassment isn’t something I think anyone can speak to definitively. I tend to believe that there were a lot of things he did that made some on set uncomfortable and those may amount to sexual harassment (or not). I know I will get called all kinds of names for saying that but I just don’t see this as he did nothing wrong and she set out from day 1 to vindictively ruin him and take over the movie.