Blake Lively Bombshell Turns Hollywood Against Justin Baldoni, Raises PR Questions

Yesterday at 09:00 AM

Blake Lively's bombshell sexual harassment complaint against Justin Baldoni set Hollywood running for cover on the eve of the holiday break while simultaneously checking whether they'd missed a memo lowering the bar on public image campaigns for celebrity women. 

"It's really disheartening," said one senior female industry executive, referring to the detailed allegations of harassment and a social media smear campaign against Lively by her co-star Baldoni. "If you read the complaint, the text messages, it's crystal clear that something really bad happened here."

"This is on another level," said a veteran Hollywood publicity executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, referring to the successful effort by a PR campaign to tag Lively as "tone-deaf, difficult to work with, a bully," as The New York Times put it.

"This is not a traditional crisis plan," said the PR executive. "A traditional plan means presenting an offensive and a defensive view, not an overt, fictitious smear campaign, more reminiscent of Russian interference in an election than defending a client."

The fallout has been swift and severe. Baldoni's talent agency WME dropped him on Saturday. And by Monday a series of unfortunate events befell the actor/producer: Sony, distributor of "It Ends With Us," issued a firm statement of support for Lively (the movie made $350 million and the studio used Lively's cut made by editors she hired) decrying "reputational attacks"; the non-profit group Vital Voices stripped Baldoni of an allyship award they'd given him earlier this month, citing the allegations; and pro-male feminist Liz Plank quit "Man Enough," the podcast she did with Baldoni, in an Instagram post. 

Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Commission on Friday as a precursor to a lawsuit alleging that Baldoni hired two publicists to damage her reputation after a dispute over his conduct on the set of their movie, "It Ends With Us." The New York Times published damning details — including a series of text messages between Baldoni and two publicists — that were shared widely on social media through the weekend and into Monday, as offices shut down and industry insiders boarded flights to Hawaii, Mexico and homesteads in Palm Springs. 

They made time for the latest scandal coursing through the heart of the movie industry. 

"This is truly heinous," the influential Kara Swisher posted on Threads, copying a page from Lively's complaint alleging the actress was pressured to "simulate full nudity" in a birth scene "despite no mention of nudity for this scene in the script, her contract, or in previous creative discussions."

Baldoni also gave the walk-on role of ob/gyn to a close friend, Wayfarer CEO Steve Sarowitz, for the birth scene, which she found "invasive and humiliating." 

That was one of many specific instances of intrusive personal behavior detailed in the 80-page complaint that women's activists found cringeworthy. It comes seven years after the rise of the #MeToo movement and the outing of a series of sexual predators in the industry. 

But it was the series of texts among Baldoni's publicity executives Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, named as defendants along with the actor and his producers, that many in Hollywood found most objectionable. 

"I think you guys need to be tough and show the strength of what you guys can do in these scenarios," Abel wrote to Nathan, in texts obtained via subpoena. "He wants to feel like she can be buried."

"Of course- but you know when we send over documents we can't send over the work we will or could do because that could get us in a lot of trouble," Nathan responded, adding, "We can't write we will destroy her."

Abel wrote to Nathan on Aug. 4 that "I'm having reckless thoughts of wanting to plant pieces this week of how horrible Blake is to work with. Just to get ahead of it."

Baldoni's attorney Bryan Freedman did not respond to a request for comment by TheWrap. 

***

The issues raised by the complaint, which is expected to lead to a lawsuit, go beyond the alleged behavior by Baldoni and the Wayfarer producers. It suggests a more sinister shadow campaign that sought to invent negative stories and amplify them, reaching beyond what most publicity firms in Hollywood see as acceptable. 

"There's lines that have been crossed," said the PR executive. "I'm not saying we don't use dark arts, and we don't use Page Six… We're all guilty of spinning. But we're not guilty of fabrication by smear." 

"What distinguishes this is the proactive and deliberately misleading aspect of it," said an attorney working on the Lively action. "Rather than correcting the record, or putting out a positive narrative, this PR group — in cooperation with the client — sought a strategy to astroturf. To create threads of stories, to use digital means to artificially create a conversation, and then once a conversation appeared organic, to stoke the flames and expand it. That is not normal PR. That is misleading and gives the public an impression that is manipulated behind [the] scenes on a digital basis." 

A dozen phone calls to publicity, talent and film executives from TheWrap went unanswered on Monday, a sure sign that the dust-up raised awkward questions for Hollywood that were easier to duck than confront. 

For many, it seemed a reminder that Hollywood has made precious little progress when it comes to respecting women. That public shaming is still a tool in the publicity kit for women who dare to complain about sexual harassment. After all, if Baldoni — a moderately known TV actor — could retaliate against a figure as popular as Lively, whose husband Ryan Reynolds is one of the most bankable stars working today, who is safe? 

"One of her goals in filing this is to speak out against retaliation," said her lawyer. "At first to keep people from speaking out against harassment. Because she knows that if it can be done to her, it can be done to anyone. And the only way to do that is to shine a light on it when it happens."

But at least one legal expert said the case could prove to be a valuable lesson for an industry that often preaches equality, but has a hard time living those values. 

"Despite the horrendous allegations and great animosity and negativity, this case could prove to be positive in terms of shining a light on the abuse that often does happen on movie sets but gets overlooked," said Tre Lovell, an entertainment and civil attorney. "I believe the industry will respond to ensure more mechanisms are put in place to allow actors and set personnel to have a protocol and means to better report harassment, discrimination, hostile work environment and retaliation, thus making movie sets safer in this regard for the future."

Others commenting on social media were more skeptical, yet found a silver lining in the exposure of the scandal. 

"If you, like me, are heartbroken that the two gleeful architects of the Blake Lively takedown are young women, just focus and shine a brighter light on Megan Twohey, the journalist who dug deep and reported extensively and objectively on this to reveal the truth. Like she did on [Harvey] Weinstein," Stephanie March, an editor at Minneapolis-St Paul city magazine, posted on Threads. 

Umberto Gonzalez and Drew Taylor contributed to this report.

The post Blake Lively Bombshell Turns Hollywood Against Justin Baldoni, Raises PR Questions appeared first on TheWrap.