This story contains descriptions of sexual harrassment that readers may find upsetting.
Blake Lively has taken legal action against Justin Baldoni, the director and lead actor, and Jamey Heath, the lead producer of the film ‘It Ends with Us’.
The men hired public relations expert Melissa Nathan, most known for her previous client Johnny Depp, in a similar social media smear campaign against Amber Heard.
Scooter Braun, owner of Taylor Swift’s masters and alleged participant in the edited phone call between Kanye and Swift, is the majority stakeholder in the TAG PR company run by Melissa Nathan.
“He wants to feel that she can be buried,” a publicist working with Mr. Baldoni wrote in an August 2nd message to Ms. Nathan.
“You know we can bury anyone,” Ms Nathan wrote.
Lively filed a complaint in November 2023, claiming Baldoni improvised physical intimacy and discussions of his sex life, including encounters in which he may not have received consent, and claiming Heath showed a video of his wife naked to Lively. Both entered her trailer uninvited while she was undressed or breastfeeding.
Before shooting, she objected to sex scenes he wanted to add since she considered them gratuitous; the alleged changes were a scene for Lively to orgasm on-camera and a detailed scene of the younger actress losing her virginity.
Neither scene appeared in the original novel by Colleen Hoover.
After her complaint, the following January, they had a meeting between Lively, Baldoni, the producers, and Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds.
Wayfarer Studios agreed to have a full-time intimacy coordinator.
It was noticed by social media accounts Reynolds had blocked Baldoni on Instagram.
Upon the film’s release, the cast, including Lively and author Hoover, informed Sony and Wayfarer they would not appear alongside Baldoni.
The media presented this as a disruption over Baldoni’s and Lively’s creative differences. The film distributor Sony supported Lively in hiring editors to create a different cut of the film, for which she received producer credit.
Sony had an official promotion plan instructing the cast to focus on the hopeful and uplifting aspects of the film instead of the domestic violence and focus on the floral film.
Lively faced backlash for her insensitivity; in return, Balodni’s PR team decided to highlight the survivors of Domestic Violence to help his interests.
Baldoni received an award this month for being an ally to women.
Following the complaint filed with the California Civil Rights Department against him, WME has since dropped Baldoni.
Lively continues to be represented by WME.
Melissa Nathan wrote in a message to Ms Abel: “and socials are really really ramping up. In his favour, she must be furious. It’s actually sad because it just shows you have people really want to hate on women.”
Nathan’s proposal to hire contractors, such as Jed Wallace, to lead a digital strategy to change the narrative. The hatred of Lively increased on TikTok with mass support to Baldoni.
It is impossible to determine the extent to which social media accounts or reporters were involved.
Kjersti Flaa, a reporter, posted clips with Johnny Depp with #JusticeForJohnnyDepp in 2022 amongst the Amber Heard smear campaign.
Flaa also re-uploaded a clip from a 2016 interview with Lively, who snapped back after her baby bump comment, which further branded Lively as a mean girl.
A document claimed to read the team planted stories about the weaponism of feminism, like women such as Taylor Swift, who have been accused of utilising these tactics to bully others into getting what they want.
Taylor Swift is friends with Lively and her husband, Reynolds.
Swift has been named Person of the Year by Times Magazine twice, once in 2016 during her sexual assault trial against former DJ David Muller and in 2023, following her successful Eras Tour re-claiming her stolen music by Scooter Braun.
Swift became the first mass-cancelled celebrity on Twitter following Kanye’s leaked phone call, found to be edited years later, and the Famous music video in which he made a naked waxwork used to humiliate and harass Swift.
A social media post featuring Braun (a stakeholder in Ms Nathan’s PR Company), Kanye West, and Justin Bieber increased the cancellation.
It was impossible to escape the Kanye Swift feud in 2016; Swift went into hiding until she released her return album, Reputation.
Amber Heard escaped the Johnny Depp trial by moving to Spain with her daughter.
However, in 2022, TikTok feeds were clogged with content over the trial bashing Amber Heard and acting out scenes from their marriage.
A dystopian theatre production.
Lively, Heard, and Swift suffered through a similar smear campaign created through social media manipulation due to their inability to find the model of a perfect victim.
Even upon releasing the complaint, social media remains siding with Baldoni due to Lively’s past actions.
Mass disinformation campaigns are not subjected to politics; the tipping point of the far-right is to build a narrative of manipulative women, to attack reproductive rights, and to undermine the court system of sexual assault and harassment.
A society that already does not believe in women, a society built to hate them even more.
Before agreeing instantly with a social media post, consider researching the issue. Effective disinformation relies on information overload and an effective social media plan.
In a statement, Ms Lively said, “I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted.”
Skye Collacott Williamson 