In August of last year, the movie “It Ends with Us” came out in movie theaters with mixed responses from audiences. Some found the movie centering on domestic abuse to be powerful and moving, and others found it to be a cash grab at the trauma survivors face. However what was most talked about was the marketing strategy the film had, with a promotional video that had Blake Lively state to “grab your friends, wear your florals” for a movie that was being marketed as a romance. “It Ends With Us” was a film with a dark plot that was hiding behind a happy exterior. Who knew that Lively would allege that behind the scenes, their costar/director Justin Baldoni was the very same?
Blake Lively filed a complaint against Justin Baldoni in December for sexual harassment, defamation, and retaliation, with countless other allegations stating she was in a hostile workplace during filming. Lively claimed that when she called out Baldoni for his behavior, he started a smear campaign against the actress during the film’s promotional content to ruin Lively’s career. His reaction to said allegations? Justin Baldoni sues her for defamation and invasion of privacy. Baldoni’s complaint states that not only did Blake Lively “approve” of these actions, but that she tried taking him out of his movie once production was over. Over the past few months, Baldoni’s team has released “evidence” to the public that he’s innocent and that Lively is the problem in all this. But, what’s my opinion of this? I think Baldoni is the perfect example of the performative activist “nice guy”.
Justin Baldoni is an actor and director, mostly known for playing Rafael Solano in the TV show Jane the Virgin, but is also a self-proclaimed feminist. His podcast, “Man Enough”, titled after his book, centers on how to get rid of toxic masculinity and is supposed to talk about “how rigid gender roles have affected all people” according to their official website. He podcasts alongside Jamey Heath, another defendant Lively has sued in the complaint. Justin Baldoni is particularly well known for being “one of the good guys”. This is why when these allegations came out, people who knew of him didn’t believe it. I wasn’t exactly on either side of the suit, as no substantial evidence came out for either side. However, when Baldoni’s team released behind-the-scenes footage of the two, I felt I finally knew who this guy was. I think he’s a creep.
Baldoni is shown doing improvisations during the filming like leaning into Lively’s neck and bringing up parts of each other’s marriages that are not in character. At one point Baldoni even compliments how good her makeup smells. These aren’t things directors should say to their actors. Romantic scenes should never be improvised without an intimacy coordinator, nor should they make your actors physically lean away from you because they look visibly uncomfortable. Baldoni also has a 2 am phone message he sends to Lively where he says he has “all of her”. The message is almost 7 minutes long and, in my opinion, basically gives proof that he didn’t have any boundaries when working with Lively (and how much he loves listening to himself talk). Even Baldoni’s explanations for any of Lively’s complaints sound like victim blaming, saying that since Lively called herself sexy she’s the problem, not him.Â
In all honesty, I think this entire case is a book-by-book play of every predator’s defense when they get caught. “She told me I could come in once, so why can’t I do it all the time?” “ “She wants to ruin my life because I wasn’t into her” “She’s lying about sexual harassment so she can take over everything”. I know that Lively isn’t a perfect person either, with her troubling past and tone-deaf business tactics. But you don’t have to be a perfect person to be a victim. And you don’t have to be in a perfect situation to be one either. I believe that Lively was harassed, and not just because of what she said, but because of what Baldoni showed us himself. I’m just unsure he knows the irony of defending women’s stories of sexual and physical assault, to ultimately bash Lively’s once he’s the problem. As for the legal case, both Lively and Baldoni told the Federal Court on February 13th that they refuse any mediation or settlement, according to Forbes. All I can hope for is that more female survivors of any sexual misconduct can get their justice in court.