Justin Baldoni didn’t forget ANY part of Blake Lively’s “disastrous” marketing campaign for It Ends with Us…
As part of the Jane the Virgin alum’s $400 million lawsuit against Blake and her husband Ryan Reynolds on Thursday, he outlined several specific instances of what the suit refers to as her “disastrous marketing efforts.” Why? It’s his contention there was no smear campaign against Blake — that she brought the PR disaster on herself. He argues she got grilled online by fans because of her own promo ideas that didn’t match the tone of the film.
Related: Blake Lively’s Game Of Thrones Text Is An All-Timer Whether You Love Or Hate Her!
Among the examples, Justin recalls a specific afterparty Blake held for It Ends with Us. According to the suit, she named a drink after Justin’s character Ryle Kincaid. You know, the film’s villain who abuses her character, Lily Bloom? She called the drink the “Ryle You Wait.”
Yikes…
He called the move “harmful and irresponsible,” and an example of the type of marketing that “backfired and led to widespread criticism of [her] promotional approach to the film’s highly sensitive focus on domestic violence.” His lawyers echoed how “social media commenters quickly pointed out that [Lively’s] tie-in of her alcohol beverages was in particularly poor taste, given the World Health Organization estimates that 55% of domestic violence incidents are linked to alcohol.”
Yeah, we can’t say that was a great move to involve alcohol in the marketing OR to allegedly name a drink after an abuser. But how else would she get cross-promotional synergy with her own alcohol brand? Yes, according to reports, Blake’s Betty Booze brand was available at the party, with Betty Buzz appearing to have been in the Ryle You Wait.
What do YOU make of this claim, Perezcious readers??
[Images via Sony Pictures/YouTube]