Blake Lively's lawsuit:
Who is Blake Lively?
Blake Lively, known for her roles in films such as The Shallows and A Simple Favor, as the Serena van der Woodsen in Gossip Girl, has recently faced criticism and negativity on social media platforms such as TikTok and YouTube. The actress, who starred in the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's novel It Ends With Us, directed by Justin Baldoni, has been unfairly targeted by online trolls and detractors.
Who is Justin Baldoni?
Justin Baldoni is an actor and filmmaker known for starring and directing It Ends with Us. On several occasions, he is a devout follower of the Baháʼí faith and has shared social media posts related to his belief in the religion. He has starred in the soap operas "The Young and the Restless," "Heroes," "The Bold and the Beautiful," and developed a male empowerment talk show called "Man Enough. Baldoni and his wife both have credits on the telenovela "Jane the Virgin," the television show in which Baldoni is best known for his role as Rafael Solano (loved his character).
WHY EVERYONE HATES BLAKE LIVELY
It all began, or should I say, it ended with it ends with us. Blake Lively was announced as the gorgeous young flower shop owner, Lily Bloom.
It Ends With Us tells the story of Lily Bloom, a young woman's journey to escape the patterns of violence that defined her childhood. The novel begins when Lily has just buried her father and is grappling with his memory and the pain he caused Lily and her mother. Throughout the book, though, she develops a more nuanced perspective on her father’s life and understands why her mother chose to stay with him. Through her relationships with two men—the passionate, tortured, and angry Ryle and the calm, patient, and loving Atlas from her youth. Lily slowly begins to understand who she is and what she wants from life.
Too old to play Lily
People on Reddit and TikTok just could not accept her as Lily because she was too "old." In the book, Lily is supposed to be 23 years old, while Blake likely was 36 when she played the character. However, it is worth noting that Lively isn't the only actor in the cast of It Ends With Us that is older than their character. Lily's love interest, Ryle, is supposed to be 30 in the book; Justin Baldoni is an entire decade older at 40. The same goes for Brandon Sklenar, who plays Atlas, who is 27 years old in the book, but Sklenar is 34 years old. Overall, the movie's direction seems to be to age up all the characters in the cast and not just single out Lively. As a book reader, that was a certain naivety that Lily lacked; however, generally, I think the casting made sense. It narrowed the uncomfortable age gap and allowed the younger counterparts to be age-appropriate. When discussing a sensitive topic of domestic violence, it's essential to ensure it is handled well, and this was handled well by the casting team.
Horrible promotion of it ends Us
There was a remarkably tone-deaf approach to the It Ends with Us movie, with the main focus being on women's empowerment and flowers instead of directly focusing on DV. YouTube erupted with memes erupting on how weird her interviews were and how she barely addressed the DV aspect of the films. In several interviews, she tried using sarcasm and promoting her personal brands (alcohol and hair care products), including her husband's film. It was all just weird. People were shocked when they went to the cinema and realised the movie was about DV, not a flowery, girly rom-com. When asked directly, ''What is the best way for DV survivors to talk to you?'' she answered,
“Like, asking for my address, or my phone number, or, like, location share? I could just location share! I'm a Virgo, so are we talking logistics, are we talking emotionally?” before answering the questions, which many questioned as inappropriate and very insensitive.
Where was Justin Baldoni?
Justin was not present for some of the movie premieres and promotions. Lively's husband wrote the rooftop scene. Lively directed the scenes when shooting the film. She chose her outfits, which were awful, by the way. (Sorry, Blake, but what were you thinking?). Everyone on the cast then blocked Baldoni. The internet decided Blake had more star power, which must have pushed poor Baldoni out. She and her husband married on a plantation that tried to take over to improve their careers.
That horrible interview
Kjersti Flaa interviewed Parker Posey and Blake Lily while she was pregnant. Klersti congratulated her on her little bump, and all hell broke loose when Blake said, 'Congratulations on your little bump.' Additionally, when asked about the fashion in the movie, she tried to take a feminist approach and asked if the same question would be asked of the male actors. Lastly, throughout the interview, she ignores the interviewer and directs answers and questions to her co-star.
5. She is terrible to work with
It's terrible to state this, but Blake Lively has been a handful to work with. Justin apparently asked how much she weighed to his trainer. Blake felt that she was being fat-shamed, whilst Justin stated he had a back problem and wanted to ensure his back was protected without directly asking the question to her. Stars of Gossip Girl, including Leighton Meester, have reported that they did not like Lively because she has a complicated personality to work with. Armie Hammer was also fired from Gossip Girl for having issues with Blake, as he referred to her as a "massive bitch." In a simple favour with Anna Kendrick, they struggled to work together and had to be asked to pretend to like each other. Is she a woman who stands up for what she wants, or is she difficult?
She states she was uncomfortable on set, but she doesn't specify precisely why she was uncomfortable. To social media users, she is horrible to work with and slightly irritating.
Nepo baby who had a plantation wedding
She was born into wealth. Her parents worked on movie sets, and she would likely end up in the limelight. Her parents were directors and talent managers, so she grew up in the limelight. Her sister Robin Linely is famous for Teen Witch. Internet people generally hate all nepo babies. We all see them as bad people, and it isn't fair that they get wealth simply because of who they are.
Lively and Ryan Reynold married in 2012 at a plantation in South Carolina. They got married at Boone Hall Plantation in Mount Pleasant, which features nine slave cabins, referred to as "Slave Street." Both Lively and Reynolds have since apologised and expressed regret over the location of the wedding. "We're ashamed that in the past we've allowed ourselves to be uninformed about how deeply rooted systemic racism is," the couple wrote on Instagram, announcing a $200,000 donation to the NAACP legal defence fund in May following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. "We want to educate ourselves about other people's experiences and talk to our kids about everything, especially our complicity."
Reasons why you should not fall for this negativity
Is Blake Lively a good person? Probably not. Is Justin Baldoni a good person? Probably not. Nothing has been confirmed, and it seems like most of what is happening here can be explained through an Entourage-style battle of PR agencies.
PR battle
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are the two main stars of It Ends With Us, and it seems like they didn’t get along during the movie's production. Complicating matters is that she was an executive producer on the film, but he owns the rights to the book.
Afterwards, stories started to come out about set problems. A story that she felt fat-shamed by him, followed by a resurfaced video of the interview she did in 2016. Now, with every bit of detail, the lawsuit focused on making Blake look like a mother and wife who has suffered. This comes off as two people trying to win the public opinion battle. Add in the “all press is good press” aspect of things around the opening of a movie, and it’s been a bit of a firestorm.
Hated woman of the season
we had Amber heard, who was deemed a liar and a manipulator for abusing the legendary Jonny Deep. Then we have Justin Beiber's wife, who snaked her way and forced a world-famous superstar into marrying her and destroying the innocent Selena Gomez along the way. Then, the beautiful Jennifer Lopez is generally a horrible person who seems incapable of keeping a man.
Now we have the woman of the season, Blake Lively, deemed a horrible conniving woman who married for wealth. She is a nepo baby; nobody likes her, and she is insensitive. Furthermore, she is rude, wants to be the face of feminism, and is jealous of Scarlett Johansson, who is the former wife of Ryan Reynolds and wants a viral moment for standing against sexist people like she did (video below).
Generally, the internet loves to focus all its hate on one unlucky person, and typically, it is a previously loved white woman who has made a slight blunder. And because we, the public, fall for this repeatedly, PR agencies now use these to rescue men who misbehave. It's not their fault; no, it's the overly sensitive me too, focused bitch who wants 5 seconds of fame so she can put her hand up and say, "Me too'.
Lack of critical thinking
We don't know what happened on the set if it ends with us. Only the cast can honestly tell us what happened. So why the sudden onslaught and hate? Simply because it sells. How many views and likes did the videos and blogs get thousands? Once you click on an article, another article will pop up. When you finish with another video, 20 more show up with new facts and something she has previously done.
Blake has said and commented very little, and so have her co-stars. So why are we all online fighting? Even Justin Baldoni has said nothing. Yet here we are, writing essays and expressing how much we hate this woman despite, in all honesty, knowing nothing about her.
We are, as a society, utterly stupid.
The negative impact of jumping on the hate bandwagon
Engaging in unwarranted criticism and perpetuating baseless rumours undermines Blake Lively's efforts and contributes to a toxic culture of unjust scrutiny in the entertainment industry. By blindly following the tide of negativity, we risk overlooking the value of genuine talent and hard work. Instead of being swayed by hearsay, let's focus on the facts and support artists like Blake Lively, who continue to inspire and entertain audiences worldwide. Let's cultivate a community that uplifts and appreciates talent rather than tearing it down with uninformed judgment. Let's choose respect over unwarranted criticism and foster a culture of positivity in our appreciation of artists like Blake Lively.
Respecting the hard work and dedication that goes into a successful career is essential in combatting the unfair misperception often faced by public figures like Blake Lively. Behind the glitz and glamour lies countless hours of commitment, perseverance, and sacrifice. By acknowledging the efforts that go into building a successful career, we cultivate a deeper understanding of the individual's journey. Let us not dismiss this hard work lightly; instead, we should choose to appreciate the dedication required to thrive in a challenging industry. Next time you feel tempted to join the hate bandwagon, pause and consider the relentless dedication that underpins every triumph in a professional's life.
Horrible things happen to people that are not nice.
Blake Lively has since filed a lawsuit against Justin Baldoni, stating that she was sexually harassed, and released a lawsuit against Justin Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios LLC. Bad things happen to bad people. As a society, let's stop forming a hoard mentality and allow these celebrities to dictate where public opinion sways. Is Blake Lively lying? Who knows. Is Justin Lying? I don't know. So do the majority of people on planet Earth; we know nothing. If what Blake Lively states in the lawsuit is truthful and Justin Baldoni did these things, I pray that justice comes for him. In the 80-page legal complaint filed against Baldoni on December 20, Lively alleged her co-star caused her “severe emotional distress” on the set of It Ends With Us and that he orchestrated a “smear campaign” against her after she asked for complaints to be addressed.
It is crucial to shift our perspective from criticism to appropriate critical analysis and not let these PR agencies do the thinking for us.
Blake Lively's Lawsuit
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