Blake Lively- Jason Baldoni and NYT - False Light claims

[Anonymous]

Lively and Reynolds going nuclear over the "fat shaming" incident, before filming began, is enough to make me not trust anything they say and think they're insensitive babies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I haven't looked at the timeline in a while, but one thing to keep in mind is that I believe this scene was filmed very soon after the birth scene and the incident with Heath and the birth video. Like that day or the next day.

So you have to think about this in context. If:

- Lively shows up to film the birth scene and they are suddenly saying "oh we want you to be nude, including topless" in this scene," and there was no warning of this

- and she winds up having to fight with them on it to be wearing a hospital gown in the scene

- and in that fight Baldoni makes some inappropriate comments, like that it is not "normal" for women to wear any clothing during birth and is dismissive of the experience that Lively brings to the table on that subject

- and then the next day after they've filmed the birth scene Heath approaches her and tries to show her his wife's nude birth video without clearly explaining what it is

- and when Lively declines to watch the video and asks him if his wife has consented to the video being shown to others, Heath says his wife "isn't weird" about stuff like that (implying Lively *is* weird for not wanting to watch another woman's birth video on her lunch break),

AND THEN they filmed this scene and Baldoni is pushing for them to be physically closer and his kissing her shoulder and nuzzling her face even though she keeps pulling back and suggesting they talk instead, AND she raises her issue with that after the scene and Baldoni dismisses it with "I'm not even attracted to you" (which misses the point of why Lively was bothered -- she doesn't think he's hitting on her, she feels he is repeatedly violating her physical autonomy in a variety of ways and making loaded comments about women and childbirth and relationships which are combining to make her feel uncomfortable and unsafe on the set),

then I start to see how this becomes sexual harassment, even if the contents of the video on their own seem more mild than that.

This is a completely ridiculous analyzation. If Lively was this hypersensitive and uncomfortable with the physically intimate aspects of the character, she should not done the film.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I haven't looked at the timeline in a while, but one thing to keep in mind is that I believe this scene was filmed very soon after the birth scene and the incident with Heath and the birth video. Like that day or the next day.

So you have to think about this in context. If:

- Lively shows up to film the birth scene and they are suddenly saying "oh we want you to be nude, including topless" in this scene," and there was no warning of this

- and she winds up having to fight with them on it to be wearing a hospital gown in the scene

- and in that fight Baldoni makes some inappropriate comments, like that it is not "normal" for women to wear any clothing during birth and is dismissive of the experience that Lively brings to the table on that subject

- and then the next day after they've filmed the birth scene Heath approaches her and tries to show her his wife's nude birth video without clearly explaining what it is

- and when Lively declines to watch the video and asks him if his wife has consented to the video being shown to others, Heath says his wife "isn't weird" about stuff like that (implying Lively *is* weird for not wanting to watch another woman's birth video on her lunch break),

AND THEN they filmed this scene and Baldoni is pushing for them to be physically closer and his kissing her shoulder and nuzzling her face even though she keeps pulling back and suggesting they talk instead, AND she raises her issue with that after the scene and Baldoni dismisses it with "I'm not even attracted to you" (which misses the point of why Lively was bothered -- she doesn't think he's hitting on her, she feels he is repeatedly violating her physical autonomy in a variety of ways and making loaded comments about women and childbirth and relationships which are combining to make her feel uncomfortable and unsafe on the set),

then I start to see how this becomes sexual harassment, even if the contents of the video on their own seem more mild than that.

Didn't she grab her costar Henry Golding's balls on A Simple Favor 1 without his initial permission and laughed with the director about it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't looked at the timeline in a while, but one thing to keep in mind is that I believe this scene was filmed very soon after the birth scene and the incident with Heath and the birth video. Like that day or the next day.

So you have to think about this in context. If:

- Lively shows up to film the birth scene and they are suddenly saying "oh we want you to be nude, including topless" in this scene," and there was no warning of this

- and she winds up having to fight with them on it to be wearing a hospital gown in the scene

- and in that fight Baldoni makes some inappropriate comments, like that it is not "normal" for women to wear any clothing during birth and is dismissive of the experience that Lively brings to the table on that subject

- and then the next day after they've filmed the birth scene Heath approaches her and tries to show her his wife's nude birth video without clearly explaining what it is

- and when Lively declines to watch the video and asks him if his wife has consented to the video being shown to others, Heath says his wife "isn't weird" about stuff like that (implying Lively *is* weird for not wanting to watch another woman's birth video on her lunch break),

AND THEN they filmed this scene and Baldoni is pushing for them to be physically closer and his kissing her shoulder and nuzzling her face even though she keeps pulling back and suggesting they talk instead, AND she raises her issue with that after the scene and Baldoni dismisses it with "I'm not even attracted to you" (which misses the point of why Lively was bothered -- she doesn't think he's hitting on her, she feels he is repeatedly violating her physical autonomy in a variety of ways and making loaded comments about women and childbirth and relationships which are combining to make her feel uncomfortable and unsafe on the set),

then I start to see how this becomes sexual harassment, even if the contents of the video on their own seem more mild than that.

I think you are insane. She is an actress filming a romantic drama, this is her job. And again, she lied about the dancing scene in her complaint, the video made that very clear.

She also lied about what she wore in the birthing scene. Not sure how she thought that would go unnoticed.

DP, who does not agree with you, and who also notes in any case Baldoni doesn’t dispute that he wanted her to be TOPLESS in a birth scene in a PG-13 movie because ALL NORMAL WOMEN JUST RIP THEIR TOP OFF DURING CHILDBIRTH wtf with this regressive Candace Owens style feminism that’s really just deceptively wrapped patriarchy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't looked at the timeline in a while, but one thing to keep in mind is that I believe this scene was filmed very soon after the birth scene and the incident with Heath and the birth video. Like that day or the next day.

So you have to think about this in context. If:

- Lively shows up to film the birth scene and they are suddenly saying "oh we want you to be nude, including topless" in this scene," and there was no warning of this

- and she winds up having to fight with them on it to be wearing a hospital gown in the scene

- and in that fight Baldoni makes some inappropriate comments, like that it is not "normal" for women to wear any clothing during birth and is dismissive of the experience that Lively brings to the table on that subject

- and then the next day after they've filmed the birth scene Heath approaches her and tries to show her his wife's nude birth video without clearly explaining what it is

- and when Lively declines to watch the video and asks him if his wife has consented to the video being shown to others, Heath says his wife "isn't weird" about stuff like that (implying Lively *is* weird for not wanting to watch another woman's birth video on her lunch break),

AND THEN they filmed this scene and Baldoni is pushing for them to be physically closer and his kissing her shoulder and nuzzling her face even though she keeps pulling back and suggesting they talk instead, AND she raises her issue with that after the scene and Baldoni dismisses it with "I'm not even attracted to you" (which misses the point of why Lively was bothered -- she doesn't think he's hitting on her, she feels he is repeatedly violating her physical autonomy in a variety of ways and making loaded comments about women and childbirth and relationships which are combining to make her feel uncomfortable and unsafe on the set),

then I start to see how this becomes sexual harassment, even if the contents of the video on their own seem more mild than that.

This is a completely ridiculous analyzation. If Lively was this hypersensitive and uncomfortable with the physically intimate aspects of the character, she should not done the film.

DP, but it’s not “hypersensitive” to expect that the kissing, intimacy, nudity, and sex scenes you are expected to perform are in the script you agreed to, and that if they’re not in the script, the director has talked them over with you in advance of actually shooting the scene and obtained your consent for them, and moreover does not try to pressure and rush you into doing such unscripted scenes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't looked at the timeline in a while, but one thing to keep in mind is that I believe this scene was filmed very soon after the birth scene and the incident with Heath and the birth video. Like that day or the next day.

So you have to think about this in context. If:

- Lively shows up to film the birth scene and they are suddenly saying "oh we want you to be nude, including topless" in this scene," and there was no warning of this

- and she winds up having to fight with them on it to be wearing a hospital gown in the scene

- and in that fight Baldoni makes some inappropriate comments, like that it is not "normal" for women to wear any clothing during birth and is dismissive of the experience that Lively brings to the table on that subject

- and then the next day after they've filmed the birth scene Heath approaches her and tries to show her his wife's nude birth video without clearly explaining what it is

- and when Lively declines to watch the video and asks him if his wife has consented to the video being shown to others, Heath says his wife "isn't weird" about stuff like that (implying Lively *is* weird for not wanting to watch another woman's birth video on her lunch break),

AND THEN they filmed this scene and Baldoni is pushing for them to be physically closer and his kissing her shoulder and nuzzling her face even though she keeps pulling back and suggesting they talk instead, AND she raises her issue with that after the scene and Baldoni dismisses it with "I'm not even attracted to you" (which misses the point of why Lively was bothered -- she doesn't think he's hitting on her, she feels he is repeatedly violating her physical autonomy in a variety of ways and making loaded comments about women and childbirth and relationships which are combining to make her feel uncomfortable and unsafe on the set),

then I start to see how this becomes sexual harassment, even if the contents of the video on their own seem more mild than that.

This is a completely ridiculous analyzation. If Lively was this hypersensitive and uncomfortable with the physically intimate aspects of the character, she should not done the film.

It's not about being hypersensitive. It's about appropriate workplace behavior. Lively works in an industry where she's a member of a union and the union has guidelines for handling intimacy and nudity -- she alleges that those guidelines were not followed. She also alleges that Baldoni and Heath responded to her push back on doing unscripted nudity and intimacy by making comments that seem to dismiss or ignore her agency as an actor and belittle her experiences as a woman who has given birth.

Many people seem to confuse sexual assault and sexual harassment allegations. Lively is alleging sexual harassment. What I'm outlining here could absolutely be sexual harassment, even if none of it is sexual assault. Some people seem to want an SA "smoking gun" -- footage or evidence of Baldoni grabbing Lively or physically forcing her to do something sexual. But that's not what she's alleging. Sexual harassment is a workplace violation wherein an employee is made to feel uncomfortable, to the point of interfering with their ability to do their job, due to a range of behaviors that can include: sexual innuendo, sexual propositions, sexist or gendered comments, sexually coercive comments or behaviors, among other things. Baldoni's and Heath's behavior may qualify.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't looked at the timeline in a while, but one thing to keep in mind is that I believe this scene was filmed very soon after the birth scene and the incident with Heath and the birth video. Like that day or the next day.

So you have to think about this in context. If:

- Lively shows up to film the birth scene and they are suddenly saying "oh we want you to be nude, including topless" in this scene," and there was no warning of this

- and she winds up having to fight with them on it to be wearing a hospital gown in the scene

- and in that fight Baldoni makes some inappropriate comments, like that it is not "normal" for women to wear any clothing during birth and is dismissive of the experience that Lively brings to the table on that subject

- and then the next day after they've filmed the birth scene Heath approaches her and tries to show her his wife's nude birth video without clearly explaining what it is

- and when Lively declines to watch the video and asks him if his wife has consented to the video being shown to others, Heath says his wife "isn't weird" about stuff like that (implying Lively *is* weird for not wanting to watch another woman's birth video on her lunch break),

AND THEN they filmed this scene and Baldoni is pushing for them to be physically closer and his kissing her shoulder and nuzzling her face even though she keeps pulling back and suggesting they talk instead, AND she raises her issue with that after the scene and Baldoni dismisses it with "I'm not even attracted to you" (which misses the point of why Lively was bothered -- she doesn't think he's hitting on her, she feels he is repeatedly violating her physical autonomy in a variety of ways and making loaded comments about women and childbirth and relationships which are combining to make her feel uncomfortable and unsafe on the set),

then I start to see how this becomes sexual harassment, even if the contents of the video on their own seem more mild than that.

I think you are insane. She is an actress filming a romantic drama, this is her job. And again, she lied about the dancing scene in her complaint, the video made that very clear.

She also lied about what she wore in the birthing scene. Not sure how she thought that would go unnoticed.

DP, who does not agree with you, and who also notes in any case Baldoni doesn’t dispute that he wanted her to be TOPLESS in a birth scene in a PG-13 movie because ALL NORMAL WOMEN JUST RIP THEIR TOP OFF DURING CHILDBIRTH wtf with this regressive Candace Owens style feminism that’s really just deceptively wrapped patriarchy?

You sound very reasonable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't looked at the timeline in a while, but one thing to keep in mind is that I believe this scene was filmed very soon after the birth scene and the incident with Heath and the birth video. Like that day or the next day.

So you have to think about this in context. If:

- Lively shows up to film the birth scene and they are suddenly saying "oh we want you to be nude, including topless" in this scene," and there was no warning of this

- and she winds up having to fight with them on it to be wearing a hospital gown in the scene

- and in that fight Baldoni makes some inappropriate comments, like that it is not "normal" for women to wear any clothing during birth and is dismissive of the experience that Lively brings to the table on that subject

- and then the next day after they've filmed the birth scene Heath approaches her and tries to show her his wife's nude birth video without clearly explaining what it is

- and when Lively declines to watch the video and asks him if his wife has consented to the video being shown to others, Heath says his wife "isn't weird" about stuff like that (implying Lively *is* weird for not wanting to watch another woman's birth video on her lunch break),

AND THEN they filmed this scene and Baldoni is pushing for them to be physically closer and his kissing her shoulder and nuzzling her face even though she keeps pulling back and suggesting they talk instead, AND she raises her issue with that after the scene and Baldoni dismisses it with "I'm not even attracted to you" (which misses the point of why Lively was bothered -- she doesn't think he's hitting on her, she feels he is repeatedly violating her physical autonomy in a variety of ways and making loaded comments about women and childbirth and relationships which are combining to make her feel uncomfortable and unsafe on the set),

then I start to see how this becomes sexual harassment, even if the contents of the video on their own seem more mild than that.

This is a completely ridiculous analyzation. If Lively was this hypersensitive and uncomfortable with the physically intimate aspects of the character, she should not done the film.

It's not about being hypersensitive. It's about appropriate workplace behavior. Lively works in an industry where she's a member of a union and the union has guidelines for handling intimacy and nudity -- she alleges that those guidelines were not followed. She also alleges that Baldoni and Heath responded to her push back on doing unscripted nudity and intimacy by making comments that seem to dismiss or ignore her agency as an actor and belittle her experiences as a woman who has given birth.

Many people seem to confuse sexual assault and sexual harassment allegations. Lively is alleging sexual harassment. What I'm outlining here could absolutely be sexual harassment, even if none of it is sexual assault. Some people seem to want an SA "smoking gun" -- footage or evidence of Baldoni grabbing Lively or physically forcing her to do something sexual. But that's not what she's alleging. Sexual harassment is a workplace violation wherein an employee is made to feel uncomfortable, to the point of interfering with their ability to do their job, due to a range of behaviors that can include: sexual innuendo, sexual propositions, sexist or gendered comments, sexually coercive comments or behaviors, among other things. Baldoni's and Heath's behavior may qualify.

Again, you refuse to acknowledge that her more substantive allegations, to the extent that any were, have been either contradicted by video or multiple witnesses.

Also, she was an actress and they were directors. Any actress’, regardless of whether they have given birth, still has to act in a birthing scene consistent with the director’s direction. That’s her job. It was within Blake’s rights to reject being top less and she was not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't looked at the timeline in a while, but one thing to keep in mind is that I believe this scene was filmed very soon after the birth scene and the incident with Heath and the birth video. Like that day or the next day.

So you have to think about this in context. If:

- Lively shows up to film the birth scene and they are suddenly saying "oh we want you to be nude, including topless" in this scene," and there was no warning of this

- and she winds up having to fight with them on it to be wearing a hospital gown in the scene

- and in that fight Baldoni makes some inappropriate comments, like that it is not "normal" for women to wear any clothing during birth and is dismissive of the experience that Lively brings to the table on that subject

- and then the next day after they've filmed the birth scene Heath approaches her and tries to show her his wife's nude birth video without clearly explaining what it is

- and when Lively declines to watch the video and asks him if his wife has consented to the video being shown to others, Heath says his wife "isn't weird" about stuff like that (implying Lively *is* weird for not wanting to watch another woman's birth video on her lunch break),

AND THEN they filmed this scene and Baldoni is pushing for them to be physically closer and his kissing her shoulder and nuzzling her face even though she keeps pulling back and suggesting they talk instead, AND she raises her issue with that after the scene and Baldoni dismisses it with "I'm not even attracted to you" (which misses the point of why Lively was bothered -- she doesn't think he's hitting on her, she feels he is repeatedly violating her physical autonomy in a variety of ways and making loaded comments about women and childbirth and relationships which are combining to make her feel uncomfortable and unsafe on the set),

then I start to see how this becomes sexual harassment, even if the contents of the video on their own seem more mild than that.

This is a completely ridiculous analyzation. If Lively was this hypersensitive and uncomfortable with the physically intimate aspects of the character, she should not done the film.

It's not about being hypersensitive. It's about appropriate workplace behavior. Lively works in an industry where she's a member of a union and the union has guidelines for handling intimacy and nudity -- she alleges that those guidelines were not followed. She also alleges that Baldoni and Heath responded to her push back on doing unscripted nudity and intimacy by making comments that seem to dismiss or ignore her agency as an actor and belittle her experiences as a woman who has given birth.

Many people seem to confuse sexual assault and sexual harassment allegations. Lively is alleging sexual harassment. What I'm outlining here could absolutely be sexual harassment, even if none of it is sexual assault. Some people seem to want an SA "smoking gun" -- footage or evidence of Baldoni grabbing Lively or physically forcing her to do something sexual. But that's not what she's alleging. Sexual harassment is a workplace violation wherein an employee is made to feel uncomfortable, to the point of interfering with their ability to do their job, due to a range of behaviors that can include: sexual innuendo, sexual propositions, sexist or gendered comments, sexually coercive comments or behaviors, among other things. Baldoni's and Heath's behavior may qualify.

I actually agree with this, esp the bolded, but I also think she lied about the dance scene, so IDK. It makes it hard to give her credibility on the rest. Her lawyers rephrased it to keep it in the complaint to save face, IMO, but I'd be very surprised if they bring it up at trial, because it's terrible evidence for her.

[Anonymous]

It seems that two content creators on tik tok are being muted. Literally. One is a prominent creator that has been outspoken against BL/RR and her sleuthing had uncovered the fake lawsuit/vanzan debacle. This is interesting because the videos that are being muted are the ones specific to vanzan…makes you wonder what more is to this vanzan thing.

https://www.reddit.com/r/teamjustinbaldoni/s/M0Cey2ksdQ

[Anonymous]

I think lively defenders will find any extra blink of an eyelash, even if not scripted, to be contributory towards a sexual harassment accusation. It’s in their nature, to reach for straws and defend someone who didn’t even read the book.

I so waiting for this trial. So certain that Baldoni will prevail. Juries respond to reasonableness. I have not yet heard an interpretation from Lively supporters that would appear reasonable to the average jurist. Just calling it for what it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't looked at the timeline in a while, but one thing to keep in mind is that I believe this scene was filmed very soon after the birth scene and the incident with Heath and the birth video. Like that day or the next day.

So you have to think about this in context. If:

- Lively shows up to film the birth scene and they are suddenly saying "oh we want you to be nude, including topless" in this scene," and there was no warning of this

- and she winds up having to fight with them on it to be wearing a hospital gown in the scene

- and in that fight Baldoni makes some inappropriate comments, like that it is not "normal" for women to wear any clothing during birth and is dismissive of the experience that Lively brings to the table on that subject

- and then the next day after they've filmed the birth scene Heath approaches her and tries to show her his wife's nude birth video without clearly explaining what it is

- and when Lively declines to watch the video and asks him if his wife has consented to the video being shown to others, Heath says his wife "isn't weird" about stuff like that (implying Lively *is* weird for not wanting to watch another woman's birth video on her lunch break),

AND THEN they filmed this scene and Baldoni is pushing for them to be physically closer and his kissing her shoulder and nuzzling her face even though she keeps pulling back and suggesting they talk instead, AND she raises her issue with that after the scene and Baldoni dismisses it with "I'm not even attracted to you" (which misses the point of why Lively was bothered -- she doesn't think he's hitting on her, she feels he is repeatedly violating her physical autonomy in a variety of ways and making loaded comments about women and childbirth and relationships which are combining to make her feel uncomfortable and unsafe on the set),

then I start to see how this becomes sexual harassment, even if the contents of the video on their own seem more mild than that.

This is a completely ridiculous analyzation. If Lively was this hypersensitive and uncomfortable with the physically intimate aspects of the character, she should not done the film.

It's not about being hypersensitive. It's about appropriate workplace behavior. Lively works in an industry where she's a member of a union and the union has guidelines for handling intimacy and nudity -- she alleges that those guidelines were not followed.

Which is the reason she should have reported that behavior directly to SAG-AFTRA as soon as it occurred. That's what the union is for.

Many people seem to confuse sexual assault and sexual harassment allegations. Lively is alleging sexual harassment. What I'm outlining here could absolutely be sexual harassment, even if none of it is sexual assault. Some people seem to want an SA "smoking gun" -- footage or evidence of Baldoni grabbing Lively or physically forcing her to do something sexual. But that's not what she's alleging. Sexual harassment is a workplace violation wherein an employee is made to feel uncomfortable, to the point of interfering with their ability to do their job, due to a range of behaviors that can include: sexual innuendo, sexual propositions, sexist or gendered comments, sexually coercive comments or behaviors, among other things. Baldoni's and Heath's behavior may qualify.

But that isn't true. The threshold for workplace sexual harassment has to be pervasive, severe, and/or a threat was made or implied of the victim being fired or demoted if the sexual favor wasn't granted. From all the evidence and testimony gathered (so far), Blake has neither at the moment. That's not to say it won't change once discovery is completed. But the fact that she went back to work after her list of demands were met without issue throws water over that case. She has an uphill battle to climb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems that two content creators on tik tok are being muted. Literally. One is a prominent creator that has been outspoken against BL/RR and her sleuthing had uncovered the fake lawsuit/vanzan debacle. This is interesting because the videos that are being muted are the ones specific to vanzan…makes you wonder what more is to this vanzan thing.

https://www.reddit.com/r/teamjustinbaldoni/s/M0Cey2ksdQ

Who is the other one? That one only links to Notactuallygolden and she spoke a lot about how she thought it would be shady when it finally came out how they got it, but she definitely wasn't the sleuth. She found out about Vanzan same time as anyone else. I don't see why they would be deleted now, when the story has been out so long.

I can actually already write in my mind the conspiracy theory on NAG on Blake's side which will be that NAG deleted them herself because one of the Blake redditors is convinced anyone who complains about Blake's attorneys is on the verge of getting arrested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems that two content creators on tik tok are being muted. Literally. One is a prominent creator that has been outspoken against BL/RR and her sleuthing had uncovered the fake lawsuit/vanzan debacle. This is interesting because the videos that are being muted are the ones specific to vanzan…makes you wonder what more is to this vanzan thing.

https://www.reddit.com/r/teamjustinbaldoni/s/M0Cey2ksdQ

We warned her. She is the most neutral and brilliant lawyer commentator on this case that I've tuned into so far. But she has given Lively so much grace and now is being burned, like everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Paul Feig (director of A Simple Favor and Another Simple Favor, as well as a bunch of other movies including Bridesmaids as well as the upcoming The Housemaid with Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried) offered a really full-throated defense of Lively over the weekend, even more than we've seen in the past. From EW:

"Blake is an amazing collaborator, so when I read people's misconceptions about how movies are made, it's just frustrating for me. Every star I've worked with works this way. The idea that a star just shows up and you go 'Here's the script' -- please point me to one movie star who works that way."

"When the gang on the internet get [up in arms] about something, it's just like, 'guys, you don't know what you are talking about.' I love working with Blake -- she's just the best."

"Outrage is the most boring emotion humans have these days. When it's towards something meaningful, that's great. But people get outraged at everything? It's like, this is what you're angry about."

I know people will say whatever, he's promoting a movie with her so he has to say this -- not really. He could talk up the movie without defending her as a person pretty easily. He's chosen to back her up as a person and to specifically endorse the way she has worked with him on movies and her style of collaboration. He did not have to do that and to some degree he is sticking his neck out to do so.

Just thought it was interesting.