Blake Lively‘s lawsuit against Justin Baldoni has been a real game-changer in this whole controversy. Not only because she and other women felt he was inappropriate on set in various ways — but also because of the receipts showing he hired a PR firm to run an internet smear campaign to hurt her reputation!
We mean… that’s exactly what happened! What started out as fans pointing out perceived weirdness in the press tour turned into a conversation about what a “mean girl” Blake was! Allegedly…
But have you actually looked into the specific allegations of sexual harassment on set? When you really dig into the legal filing, it’s SO GROSS! We can’t believe this was on the set of It Ends With Us — a story about a woman surviving an abusive man! ESPECIALLY after #MeToo! This is the type of dudebro behavior we’d expect to hear about coming from a low budget action movie or some ’90s frat comedy. Not a sensitive film about ending cycles of domestic violence!
Here are some examples, directly from Blake’s filing:
“Mr. Baldoni often referred to women in the workplace as ‘sexy.’ When they expressed discomfort, Mr. Baldoni would deflect or try to pass it off, which undermined Ms. Lively and others’ concerns. For example, on one occasion that Ms. Lively observed, he told a female cast member that her leather pants looked ‘sexy’ when she arrived to the set. When she rebuffed his comment because she was uncomfortable, rather than apologizing, he brushed it off with ‘I can say that because my wife is here today.’ Ms. Lively felt embarrassed witnessing this kind of commentary, as did others.”
Ew! Ew ew ewwww! We can’t stand when men use that whole “wife guy” defense for being creeps. Just because one woman is stuck dealing with how awful you are all the time doesn’t mean you have a get-out-of-jail-free card for harassing co-workers!
As for his creeping on Blake herself? Disgustingly, she claims he was perving on her maternity wear! She alleges in the legal docs:
“On another day, Ms. Lively wore a low-cut dress to facilitate breast feeding but had it covered up with a coat. When the jacket briefly popped open at one point to reveal the dress, Mr. Baldoni commented about how much he liked her outfit, which flustered Ms. Lively. Later that day, Mr. Baldoni pressured Ms. Lively (who was in her pre-approved wardrobe) to remove her coat in front of the crew and multiple background actors in a packed bar. He said wanted to see her ‘onesie’ under the coat because it was zipped low to reveal her lace bra. Consistent with past practice, he said, ‘I think you look sexy’ in a tone that made her feel ogled and exposed.”
Seriously. Her breastfeeding bra?! Again, this is a married man. And he can’t help but go full Liar Liar elevator scene on Blake’s body??
Blake did fight back at the time. But his response is just so dismissive and infuriating!
“With other female cast present, she said, ‘that’s not what I’m going for.’ He bristled and replied, ‘I’m sorry, hot.’ Deeply uncomfortable, Ms. Lively said, ‘not that either.’ Mr. Baldoni responded sarcastically, ‘I guess I missed the HR meeting,’ and walked away.”
“I guess I missed the HR meeting”? Instead of apologizing, he’s acknowledging his bad behavior but acting like he’s being what? Some kind of super cool bad boy? BLUGH! No wonder she mentioned that line specifically in her 30 demands.
No one was buying it. Blake’s filing goes on to claim:
“Another woman on the production spoke to Ms. Lively afterward to offer empathy and to share her own similar experiences with Mr. Baldoni commenting about her in sexual terms.”
Mind you, this was all on the same shoot where he was vociferously complaining about her looking old or overweight or frumpy.
This is like the nightmare scenario of having a man direct a movie like this. You can read the full complaint for yourself HERE.
[Image via Jake’s Takes/Today/YouTube.]
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