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Justin Baldoni never wanted Blake Lively to face any heat online last year! At least, that’s what his attorney claims! And honestly? Based off that one uncovered text message of his, the one where he makes sure his team wasn’t behind the online criticism before the allegations against him even came out, we can see him being uncomfortable with it. If you don’t recall, Justin messaged his team at the time:
“How can we say somehow that we are not doing any of this — it looks like we are trying to take her down.”
Perezcious readers will recall the 37-year-old actress got ripped apart when all the talk about her nasty feud with the It Ends With Us co-star and director began over the summer. Everything came back to haunt her, including her old interviews where she displayed rude behavior and even those rumors that her hubby Ryan Reynolds allegedly cheated on Scarlett Johansson with her! Yikes! When these things resurfaced, people made it clear on social media that they were not her biggest fans, dubbing her the mean girl of Hollywood!
But according to Blake, the online hate did not happen organically! She insists this was an alleged smear campaign orchestrated by Justin and his team to destroy her reputation in retaliation for speaking up about being sexually harassed by him. She even provided her own receipts, like texts, to back her claims. This included several messages between his publicist Jennifer Abel and crisis PR expert Melissa Nathan gloating about her take down. But…
Related: Blake Lively Finally Gets A WIN In Court — But Justin Baldoni’s Lawyers Actually Seem Pleased!
Not only did Justin deny everything, he also claimed in The New York Times libel lawsuit that her team “cherry-picked and altered” texts to deliberately mislead the public, including those messages between Jennifer and Melissa! Blake’s team allegedly excluded an upside-down smiley face emoji in a text from Abel responding to Melissa about a Daily Mail article on how the Green Lantern star could be “canceled” due to her “tone deaf” promotion of the domestic violence film and those resurfaced interviews. It said:
“Wow. You really outdid yourself with this one”
Justin argued that removing the emoji misled everyone into “interpreting her response as serious” when it was not. Instead, the text was meant to convey “sarcasm.” Take a look (below):
The actor further alleged any backlash against the Gossip Girl alum happened naturally, without any involvement from him or his team. What’s more? Justin even claims HE was the one subjected to a smear campaign — not the other way around. And that’s the story he continues to stick with! In fact, his lawyer now reiterates Justin was unhappy about the criticism Blake received online last year!
During an appearance on The Town with Matthew Belloni Podcast on Thursday, Bryan Freedman addressed the aforementioned texts between Jennifer and Melissa that Blake included to try to show the group “celebrating” the negative press against her. And he says that simply was not the case here! The lawyer pointed out that the removed emojis indicated “they’re joking around” about the article, adding:
“In fact, the publicists are saying ‘We had nothing to do with this whatsoever.’ And there’s other people that say the same thing and that organically this press was coming out.”
For his part, Justin allegedly also never wanted this to happen! Freedman claimed the Jane The Virgin star was upset about all the negativity aimed at Blake:
“Justin wasn’t happy about anything that would be negative about Blake, about the movie, about him or anything. This wasn’t just about him or just about her, this was about the project they were working on together.”
The attorney noted IEWU was a “passion project” for Justin and “the last thing he wanted to see was anything online that would somehow criticize the movie.” It makes sense! You never know how online backlash will impact the success of a movie! Fortunately, IEWU did well at box office, reportedly grossing over $351 million worldwide against a $25 million budget despite the Blake criticism and feud drama, but it could have turned out differently! Just take a look at Another Simple Favor! People are boycotting the movie just because Blake stars in it! Would Justin have wanted to risk the same happening?
Ultimately, Freedman is saying no. He explained the communications between Justin and his PR representatives following the release of IEWU was the filmmaker wanting “to know what was happening out there and if there was anything that people could do differently to change the response to the movie or otherwise.” The lawyer continued:
“It wasn’t in his interest for Blake Lively to be negatively criticized; it’s not in his interest for him to be negatively criticized. It’s not in his interest for this movie to do anything other than reap rewards at the box office and to have domestic violence survivors feel an affinity to the project and to be understood and to be heard.”
Freedman stressed that the messages with Justin and his team in Blake’s lawsuit “was truly something that was organic when press would come out,” adding:
“They weren’t happy about negative press about Blake Lively and how she marketed the movie.”
Hmm…
We shall see if the court believes Justin on this story. For now, he does have the public on his side. What are your thoughts on the podcast interview, Perezcious readers? Share ’em in the comments!
[Image via CBS Mornings/YouTube, MEGA/WENN]
The post Justin Baldoni ‘Wasn’t Happy’ About Blake Lively Facing Intense Online Backlash — Despite Her Smear Campaign Claims! appeared first on Perez Hilton.
