It is finished with them. “Blake Lively Received Absolutely No Money in Justin Baldoni’s Shocking Lawsuit Settlement.” read or Page six headline May 5, though you only had to read the first sentence to learn that Baldoni got nothing, either. Lively descended on this year’s Met Gala, which was held on May 4, in a vintage Versace dress from 2006, dragging a 13-foot train and acting like nothing ever happened. Showbiz journalists are breathing a sigh of relief. The case lasted nearly two years, cost millions of dollars each, and eventually became very difficult to follow unless you’re glued to social media.
The feud started when the two worked together It ends with Usthe 2024 blockbuster adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s famous romantic novel TikTok. Lively both co-produced the film and starred as a florist inexplicably named Lily Bloom. Actor-director-producer-podcaster Baldoni directed the production and starred as Lily Bloom’s abusive boyfriend Ryle Kincaid. In late 2024, Lively sued Baldoni for sexual harassment, alleging a hostile work environment during production. She accused him (as well as his production company Wayfarer Studios and others behind the film) of subjecting her to details of his sex life, adding extra sex scenes that were said not to be in the script, and hiring a crisis management firm that had “launched a sophisticated print and digital plan” against her.
In December 2024, New York Times reported on correspondence between Baldoni and executives of the crisis management firm he recruited, The Agency Group (often referred to as Tag PR). The findings seemed to suggest the firm was astroturfing, or planting defamatory stories about Lively online and trying to pass them off as remnants of organic discussion. (A Wayfarer attorney said in a STATEMENT THE New Yorkk Times at the time the studio, its executives and PR reps “did nothing proactive and retaliated” against Lively.) “Social is really growing…” Tag founder Melissa Nathan said in a leaked text. “It’s really sad because it just shows you (that) people really want to hate women.”
Meanwhile, Reddit’s left-leaning female-focused gossip forums were swarming with Lively’s detractors, many of whom seemed eager to point out weaknesses in her public persona. Lively was a denizen of Colleen Hoover’s America, a white, heterosexual enclave of “basic whores” who still hadn’t figured out the political trajectory of the last five years. Feminism was on a Marxist-esque trajectory, but Lively was a “pants girl,” looking at her hair care and ready-to-drink cocktail brands, Blake Brown and Betty Booze. She allegedly threw herself into the MeToo movement without realizing the extent of her wealth and privilege, which seemed to trump everything that actually went against her.
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The right caught the same movement. Pundit Megyn Kelly, who covered the lawsuit, spoke unfavorably of Lively at last year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). The veracity of the case details was unclear, but the issues they represented were playing out in the women’s real lives. “As a mother of three sons,” one commenter wrote under Kelly’s CPAC speech, “this case is important to me… this is literally one of my biggest fears for any of my sons to be falsely accused by a narcissistic woman and have their lives destroyed simply because they can get away with it, because we have to trust all women no matter what. We have to change this mindset.”
These alleged PR campaigns are morally dubious and may become increasingly common. In March, Chappell Roan was accused of having a member of her security team involved in an incident that left Jude Law’s daughter.extremely shocked” at a hotel breakfast in Brazil. (Roan apologizedand added that the man was not her personal security and that she had not seen the girl.) Later REPORT found that some of the most prolific Internet commenters on the subject were bots. Meanwhile, others reports found a stream of bot-driven comments seeking to link Taylor Swift to Nazism. An investigation from Tortoise found evidence suggesting Amber Heard was subjected to an organized trolling campaign during her defamation case with Johnny Depp.
We have created the perfect environment for all of this. Lively’s case suggests that no amount of fame or power can protect a woman from such circumstances. Talking about other people behind their back is nice and provides a sense of belonging. However, our drive to justify it in morally maniacal terms—to paint our wickedness as righteous—makes the possibility of smear campaigns much easier. Lively has been followed left and right, most likely for no reason. More women will suffer if we don’t stop the rumors.
(Further reading: Beef season two: Rich people are, well, so gross)
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