"Blake Lively WITHDRAWS emotional distress claim against Justin Baldoni"

[lastpopicon 27,868]

Reading this topic, how came how many people never watched gossip girl??

I know English because of that show  

[OliviaRodrigoStan 6,389]

4 hours ago, ode said:

Did you even watch any of the video before writing this? Even just 10 minutes? Please do, if only to further disagree with me and go off. I think this video does a much better job of explaining things than I could ever do. It definitely helped change my mind and make me better understand where my former feelings about Blake Lively were coming from… But:

This post is the kind of "I'm above being influenced, I know what's up and when patriarchy is at play" kind of thinking that we need to all learn to stop buying into as we catch ourselves doing it. 

Also, nothing I said remotely suggested that women can only be victims. I am simply stating the fact that our unconscious biases — and the biases of the media we consume — have the power to influence whether or not we believe someone. 

Also, you saying that we have "actual evidence" capable of determining whether she's telling the truth or not — this is exactly the sort of misinformed rush-to-judgment that only seems possible because almost every aspect of our culture and upbrining has already primed us to disbelieve women and especially a certain kind of woman that Blake Lively embodies… We do not have access to all of the evidence, and no trial has taken place. To vociferously take the side of either is foolish.

I did click on it bestie, yes. But it was an hour long, and I already have that content creator blocked on IG because I find him to be cringe and performative. HAD YOU SOLD IT BETTER, maybe I would've stayed a little longer... but you worded it in a way, that was essentially: "If you think a woman is wrong, think again because patriarchy", and I had no time for AN HOUR worth of that . 

Not saying that's what you intended to say, but it sounded like that to me. As for the evidence, she did claim in a legal document that they tried to expose her to "****ögräphic material" without her consent, the alleged material was made available online, and it wasn't even explicit, so that isn't me rushing to conclusions because my internalized sexist bias has me thirsty to condemn an innocent woman. That's just her lying, and getting exposed, with evidence . 

I disagree with this sentiment that we can have a public opinion on cases like this one, UNLESS the predominant narrative is disfavourable towards a woman, in which case we should check our privileges and remain neutral. SHE IS THE ONE WHO MADE THIS PUBLIC, she went to The New York Times to turn all of this into a public matter . 

And she did so because she wanted a public discourse surrounding this case, it just happens that the public conversation ended up being disfavourable to her. But whatever, I respect the sentiment behind your stance. 

We just disagree on this matter bestie, that's just life 

[Gagasdisease 172]

I'm sorry but it seems like she tried something here and thought she'd get away because her husband is a billionaire and they're a hot Hollywood couple with connections but... I think she is reaching with these claims and if she's lied, I hope it comes out eventually. Same for him, but personally I think she's reaching 

[salty like sodium 1,597]

4 hours ago, RaveMonster said:

People need to realize that you can dislike both parties and also not believe either side. Baldoni’s team is so shady it’s hard to believe they aren’t trying to ruin Blake but her case is not looking very good, it’s like she didn’t think she was gonna have to actually proof any of the stuff that she claims that happened actually happened. We should always try to believe victims but do we just blindly believe them when they have been caught lying multiple times ? Not really. There’s nothing feminist about believing a woman just because she a woman 

this is such a perfect summary here.

@ode The issue to me is that blake's entire case feels disingenuous at best. The main premise of her complaint is that they damaged her reputation online as retaliation and that she lost money out of it so she is suing them to get money back. This is tied to her promoting her own merchandise deals and brands as part of a movie cycle about domestic violence, which obviously did not become a viral success since people watching such movies don't actually want to buy alcohol. Yet because those brands flopped she needed an out to get out of trouble with stakeholders (investors, shareholders, etc.) which is how this entire situation started. The fact the entire first complaint centers around the retaliation, not the alleged misconduct itself, is the first red flag to me.

Couple that with the fact that the other side has repeatedly disputed many of her claims, yes, with ACTUAL EVIDENCE (for example, video footage where she claims he smelled her and said "it smells so good" was released and showed that she really embellished the story for her needs and that it was perfectly innocent and harmless in the context of the video, since they were joking together to make an awkward filming scene more comfortable and he simply joked that her spray-tan smelled good when she apologised for getting it on his face during the filming). If such an innocuous fact could be embellished, it's hard not to wonder what else has been embellished in the original complaint, especially considering the person the complaint is about is an actor who has repeatedly worked with women for years (most notably on Jane the Virgin) and never been called out for such bad behaviour in the past, and also having been repeatedly praised by female costars.

It's also extremely distressing and troubling that we live in a world where as soon as you disagree with a woman you are automatically opening yourself up to claims that you are a patriarchy-upholding sexist pig. Women face discrimination and gender inequality, that's true – but that shouldn't be a free pass for them to be able to behave however they want without consequences because challenging what they say or do is "sexist". 

The reality is that Blake started an entire legal proceeding against Baldoni based on claims of retaliation (which tbh the 'smear campaign' thing may have been true but also she created a lot of her own bad press herself by selling booze while promoting a film about DV so ... With or without a smear campaign that still wouldn't have gone down well) – these included very serious, career-ending allegations of sexual harassment. Then when Baldoni tried to defend himself against these accusations, he provided evidence, text messages, etc. that Blake's team have never denied being real but still try to use to support their version of events.

We have repeatedly seen Lively's team try to place gag orders, sanctions and restrictions on what Baldoni's team is and isn't allowed to say. On the other hand, Baldoni's team has never once requested Blake's team be silenced or gagged. We have now seen Blake's team try to withdraw a complaint to be able to not have to submit medical records. All the facts that we see is that Blake's team seems more focused on trying to discredit Baldoni's team or silence them than actually providing evidence of his misbehaviour or the facts that are pertinent to the case (medical records, text messages, etc.) This behaviour does not sound like that of someone who has nothing to hide to me, but of someone who is hiding something.

The fact that all the people who originally spoke out in support of Blake have been quiet since (most notably costar Brandon Skenlar) and that Taylor Swift, a victim of SH herself (the DJ who groped her and got sued for $1) not only has never publicly shown support for her "best friend" but has also been seen to distance herself from her are further red flags to me.

[ode 1,528]

2 hours ago, salty like sodium said:

this is such a perfect summary here.

@ode The issue to me is that blake's entire case feels disingenuous at best. The main premise of her complaint is that they damaged her reputation online as retaliation and that she lost money out of it so she is suing them to get money back. This is tied to her promoting her own merchandise deals and brands as part of a movie cycle about domestic violence, which obviously did not become a viral success since people watching such movies don't actually want to buy alcohol. Yet because those brands flopped she needed an out to get out of trouble with stakeholders (investors, shareholders, etc.) which is how this entire situation started. The fact the entire first complaint centers around the retaliation, not the alleged misconduct itself, is the first red flag to me.

Couple that with the fact that the other side has repeatedly disputed many of her claims, yes, with ACTUAL EVIDENCE (for example, video footage where she claims he smelled her and said "it smells so good" was released and showed that she really embellished the story for her needs and that it was perfectly innocent and harmless in the context of the video, since they were joking together to make an awkward filming scene more comfortable and he simply joked that her spray-tan smelled good when she apologised for getting it on his face during the filming). If such an innocuous fact could be embellished, it's hard not to wonder what else has been embellished in the original complaint, especially considering the person the complaint is about is an actor who has repeatedly worked with women for years (most notably on Jane the Virgin) and never been called out for such bad behaviour in the past, and also having been repeatedly praised by female costars.

It's also extremely distressing and troubling that we live in a world where as soon as you disagree with a woman you are automatically opening yourself up to claims that you are a patriarchy-upholding sexist pig. Women face discrimination and gender inequality, that's true – but that shouldn't be a free pass for them to be able to behave however they want without consequences because challenging what they say or do is "sexist". 

The reality is that Blake started an entire legal proceeding against Baldoni based on claims of retaliation (which tbh the 'smear campaign' thing may have been true but also she created a lot of her own bad press herself by selling booze while promoting a film about DV so ... With or without a smear campaign that still wouldn't have gone down well) – these included very serious, career-ending allegations of sexual harassment. Then when Baldoni tried to defend himself against these accusations, he provided evidence, text messages, etc. that Blake's team have never denied being real but still try to use to support their version of events.

We have repeatedly seen Lively's team try to place gag orders, sanctions and restrictions on what Baldoni's team is and isn't allowed to say. On the other hand, Baldoni's team has never once requested Blake's team be silenced or gagged. We have now seen Blake's team try to withdraw a complaint to be able to not have to submit medical records. All the facts that we see is that Blake's team seems more focused on trying to discredit Baldoni's team or silence them than actually providing evidence of his misbehaviour or the facts that are pertinent to the case (medical records, text messages, etc.) This behaviour does not sound like that of someone who has nothing to hide to me, but of someone who is hiding something.

The fact that all the people who originally spoke out in support of Blake have been quiet since (most notably costar Brandon Skenlar) and that Taylor Swift, a victim of SH herself (the DJ who groped her and got sued for $1) not only has never publicly shown support for her "best friend" but has also been seen to distance herself from her are further red flags to me.

Do you know anything about all the texts we have of Baldoni working with the same PR company that Johnny Depp used to destroy Amber Heard? Like, before any of the lawsuit stuff started, he was already working with experts on smear campaigns and talking about how to convince people Blake Lively was bad and unlikable… We have texts from these PR people talking about how "lucky" Baldoni is to have not been exposed and cancelled already.

I love how every time I try to make an argument like this, multiple people appear to vehemently insist that we already have enough evidence to know the woman shouldn't be believed, the woman is "guilty," etc. — but, sure, it's not like there's some sort of problematic trend at play here. It's total coincidence that there's always some people ready to loudly defend the man over the woman, but not the other way around. 

[InTheCloset 18,933]

14 hours ago, salty like sodium said:

it's time for you to watch some tv girl 

I once tried watching gossip girl. Hated it

[Teletubby 146,524]

 

[LG2008 5,004]

36 minutes ago, ode said:

Do you know anything about all the texts we have of Baldoni working with the same PR company that Johnny Depp used to destroy Amber Heard? Like, before any of the lawsuit stuff started, he was already working with experts on smear campaigns and talking about how to convince people Blake Lively was bad and unlikable… We have texts from these PR people talking about how "lucky" Baldoni is to have not been exposed and cancelled already.

I love how every time I try to make an argument like this, multiple people appear to vehemently insist that we already have enough evidence to know the woman shouldn't be believed, the woman is "guilty," etc. — but, sure, it's not like there's some sort of problematic trend at play here. It's total coincidence that there's always some people ready to loudly defend the man over the woman, but not the other way around. 

Idk about your first paragraph but are we reading about the same case? Wasn't there a whole webpage full of proof that Blake Lively's accusations were fake or embellished? That and also the fact that she's allegedly a well known mean girl in the industry...

Of course that doesn't mean it's ok to SH her and if she was, Baldoni should be punished. If I remember correctly, the texts she showed were edited so when the full thing appeared, the context didn't favor her and people started questioning what she was saying. This isn't just about the accusations at this point but also about the way she's handling the situation, specially now that the table has turned for her. It's ok if people have some or a lot of doubts about the things she's saying because of the information that's out there.

Edited June 3 by LG2008

[27monster27 12,747]

6 hours ago, OliviaRodrigoStan said:

I did click on it bestie, yes. But it was an hour long, and I already have that content creator blocked on IG because I find him to be cringe and performative. HAD YOU SOLD IT BETTER, maybe I would've stayed a little longer... but you worded it in a way, that was essentially: "If you think a woman is wrong, think again because patriarchy", and I had no time for AN HOUR worth of that . 

This rhetoric is harmful to social movements and why the left can often be so divided. Matt has routinely been to protests and expressed his beliefs in many situations. Again, please do not spread harmful rhetoric.

Edited June 3 by 27monster27

[RaveMonster 63]

6 hours ago, salty like sodium said:

this is such a perfect summary here.

@ode The issue to me is that blake's entire case feels disingenuous at best. The main premise of her complaint is that they damaged her reputation online as retaliation and that she lost money out of it so she is suing them to get money back. This is tied to her promoting her own merchandise deals and brands as part of a movie cycle about domestic violence, which obviously did not become a viral success since people watching such movies don't actually want to buy alcohol. Yet because those brands flopped she needed an out to get out of trouble with stakeholders (investors, shareholders, etc.) which is how this entire situation started. The fact the entire first complaint centers around the retaliation, not the alleged misconduct itself, is the first red flag to me.

Couple that with the fact that the other side has repeatedly disputed many of her claims, yes, with ACTUAL EVIDENCE (for example, video footage where she claims he smelled her and said "it smells so good" was released and showed that she really embellished the story for her needs and that it was perfectly innocent and harmless in the context of the video, since they were joking together to make an awkward filming scene more comfortable and he simply joked that her spray-tan smelled good when she apologised for getting it on his face during the filming). If such an innocuous fact could be embellished, it's hard not to wonder what else has been embellished in the original complaint, especially considering the person the complaint is about is an actor who has repeatedly worked with women for years (most notably on Jane the Virgin) and never been called out for such bad behaviour in the past, and also having been repeatedly praised by female costars.

It's also extremely distressing and troubling that we live in a world where as soon as you disagree with a woman you are automatically opening yourself up to claims that you are a patriarchy-upholding sexist pig. Women face discrimination and gender inequality, that's true – but that shouldn't be a free pass for them to be able to behave however they want without consequences because challenging what they say or do is "sexist". 

The reality is that Blake started an entire legal proceeding against Baldoni based on claims of retaliation (which tbh the 'smear campaign' thing may have been true but also she created a lot of her own bad press herself by selling booze while promoting a film about DV so ... With or without a smear campaign that still wouldn't have gone down well) – these included very serious, career-ending allegations of sexual harassment. Then when Baldoni tried to defend himself against these accusations, he provided evidence, text messages, etc. that Blake's team have never denied being real but still try to use to support their version of events.

We have repeatedly seen Lively's team try to place gag orders, sanctions and restrictions on what Baldoni's team is and isn't allowed to say. On the other hand, Baldoni's team has never once requested Blake's team be silenced or gagged. We have now seen Blake's team try to withdraw a complaint to be able to not have to submit medical records. All the facts that we see is that Blake's team seems more focused on trying to discredit Baldoni's team or silence them than actually providing evidence of his misbehaviour or the facts that are pertinent to the case (medical records, text messages, etc.) This behaviour does not sound like that of someone who has nothing to hide to me, but of someone who is hiding something.

The fact that all the people who originally spoke out in support of Blake have been quiet since (most notably costar Brandon Skenlar) and that Taylor Swift, a victim of SH herself (the DJ who groped her and got sued for $1) not only has never publicly shown support for her "best friend" but has also been seen to distance herself from her are further red flags to me.

It’s pretty obvious something isn’t adding up because if EVERYTHING Blake has said was true the case would be going extremely well for her considering Baldoni’s team has also dropped the ball a lot and he’s not nearly as influential as her and her husband, also everyone famous who seemed to be on her side slowly disappeared.

I do think he is shady and I’m sure something weird happened on set but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna believe every single bad thing someone accuses him of just based on vibes, that’s not how justice works, specially considering some of those things aren’t adding up. The claim that Baldoni is basically responsible for people disliking her is wild considering she was the one who used a movie about domestic violence to promote her product lines, he didn’t force her to be tone deaf.

Edited June 3 by RaveMonster

[Ilia Malinin 1,539]

18 hours ago, salty like sodium said:

Basically it's Serena Van Der Woodsen v. Rafael Solano in the most unexpected crossover episode: Jane the Virgin is secretly Gossip Girl xoxo 

this sentence is a roller coaster and a half

[salty like sodium 1,597]

4 hours ago, ode said:

Do you know anything about all the texts we have of Baldoni working with the same PR company that Johnny Depp used to destroy Amber Heard? Like, before any of the lawsuit stuff started, he was already working with experts on smear campaigns and talking about how to convince people Blake Lively was bad and unlikable… We have texts from these PR people talking about how "lucky" Baldoni is to have not been exposed and cancelled already.

I love how every time I try to make an argument like this, multiple people appear to vehemently insist that we already have enough evidence to know the woman shouldn't be believed, the woman is "guilty," etc. — but, sure, it's not like there's some sort of problematic trend at play here. It's total coincidence that there's always some people ready to loudly defend the man over the woman, but not the other way around. 

It's kind of hilarious that you literally ignored everything I wrote just to make this one point that is also pulled out of context. For starters, Depp's PR firm represents most likely hundreds of clients beyond just Depp, people focusing on just one client is dismissive of all the other work the firm does. Secondly, everyone already knows there was a rift between Lively and Baldoni during production "before any of the lawsuit stuff" as you said – she even made sure he was not allowed to attend the premiere of the movie he directed and funded and hired her for. He would have had to have been completely insane to not expect and be prepared for her to somehow create bad press around him, it's extremely common for celebrities to hire PR teams to help them navigate potential drama like this so him hiring a firm is not evidence of anything outside of the ordinary. Third, the texts in Lively's complaint show that the PR team frequently did not actually have any involvement planting any bad news about Blake. There is literally not a single piece of evidence in her entire complaint where someone says "oh yeah we planted this story about her in that newspaper". Why? Because it most likely never happened. All there is are texts of people revelling in the bad press around Lively, and that's all that she had to share in her complaint. Did you even read the 200+ pages of legal documents to make an opinion, or are you just watching youtubers tell you what to think? I personally have read all the court complaints, from both sides, plus all the texts and video footage released as part of the case to inform my decision.

It's kind of gaslighty of you at this stage to ignore and deny the evidence that is placed right in front of you to push a false narrative that all the members at GGD are sexist... Like I said, I've reviewed all the articles, documents, and facts relating to this case that are available to the public – including Lively's NYT article that she planted herself the day after her lawsuit to completely try to smear Justin as well (the fact a newspaper could write such an exposé within 24 hours of hundreds of pages of legal filings being made public is pretty much impossible so they 100% had prior warning and notice). We live in a dangerous world if being a woman is the only requirement needed to be confirmed as telling the truth. Men and women are all people and ultimately there are liars everywhere. No one is saying Baldoni is blameless but all the facts seem to point that Lively has exaggerated a lot of her story. If you then dig deeper into what is happening and who has motives to do what, it also becomes a lot more interesting but I'm aware discussing interesting facts will be wasted here so I'll just say goodnight. 

[salty like sodium 1,597]

54 minutes ago, RaveMonster said:

It’s pretty obvious something isn’t adding up because if EVERYTHING Blake has said was true the case would be going extremely well for her considering Baldoni’s team has also dropped the ball a lot and he’s not nearly as influential as her and her husband, also everyone famous who seemed to be on her side slowly disappeared.

I do think he is shady and I’m sure something weird happened on set but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna believe every single bad thing someone accuses him of just based on vibes, that’s not how justice works, specially considering some of those things aren’t adding up. The claim that Baldoni is basically responsible for people disliking her is wild considering she was the one who used a movie about domestic violence to promote her product lines, he didn’t force her to be tone deaf.

that exactly. she has means, powers and resources beyond his wildest dreams. She is claiming he is backed by a billionnaire when she is literally married to one and is (was?) best friends with another and is earning enough money herself to be quite comfortable too. The fact that things aren't adding up is exactly why people doubt her, not because of sexism. I don't think he's necessarily shady, I just think they have different boundaries and were totally mismatched as coworkers. For example, he talks openly about past p*rn adiction - it's his thing. She was clearly uncomfortable with that but never did her research to realise she shouldn't work with a guy like that if she found it distasteful. To me, that's where most of the drama stems from imo, and it all snowballed from there.

@LG2008also makes a great point that the way her team reacts to all the bombshells, new evidence, etc. is also not convincing and good at building trust.

[OliviaRodrigoStan 6,389]

14 hours ago, lastpopicon said:

Reading this topic, how came how many people never watched gossip girl??

I know English because of that show  

I never even heard of it before this case . I had no idea who either Baldoni or Blake were before this . 

They should both capitalize off this exposure, and work it out on the remix, this is probably where media coverage will peak in their lives, they may as well get a hit single out of it .

6 hours ago, 27monster27 said:

This rhetoric is harmful to social movements and why the left can often be so divided. Matt has routinely been to protests and expressed his beliefs in many situations. Again, please do not spread harmful rhetoric.

No, I disagree with the idea of me disliking a content creator being a determining  factor for "the left being divided". I will continue disliking him, and expressing so on as many platforms as I see fit. 

I also disagree with the notion that he is representative of "the left" as a political party. He is a content creator known primarily for talking about Pop Culture. He's not a political figure, and you trying to police comments about him, by branding any criticism towards him as "harmful to the left" is naive, in my opinion. 

I can, and I will, criticize him, as I would with any other content creator, discourse about him does not affect the left, or any other political party, in any capacity. I dislike his makeup too, if you want to add another offence to it as well .

ON TOPIC: Apparently the judge accepted her withdrawal, but with prejudice , meaning: she won't be able to make those claims again during this case. Which is relevant because the case seems to be under the "discovery" period, which is when certain investigation and evidence should be presented. Her withdrawal was probably a strategy to dodge the discovery phase, and then present the claims again when such phase is over . 

I'm not gonna lie, her lawyers are good . Like, her legal team's strategies, as shady as they are, are good, she's getting her money's worth on those legal feeds, cause they know what they're doing . I think her main problem is that SO MANY content creators who are well-versed in legal battles are analyzing her every move with magnifying glasses, they CLOCK her strategies right away every single time . 

[StrawberryBlond 14,732]

This story just gets wilder and wilder. If her claims are true, there's no reason to back down. She started this whole thing and is backing out now after all this time? Was there bravado at the start because she assumed everyone would believe her but now that the court of public opinion is at an all-time low regarding her and her husband, she thinks it's better to retreat? This is one of the most swift turn-arounds in a celebrity's reputation I've ever seen. If she's just taken the negative reaction to all her interviews for It Ends With Us on the chin, she would still be known merely for being slightly shady. But she tried to mend the negative views of her by claiming that her co-star, who she'd had no issues with up until that point, treated her unreasonably behind the scenes. Coincidental that she only raised these issues after going through a bad patch with her image. But she couldn't deliver any proof yet choose to double down and try to rope in her friend Taylor Swift to help her even though she had nothing to do with the movie which really blew up in her face because no one wants Taylor as an enemy. 

Nothing she does is working out and the internet's been on a scavenger hunt to find any and all cases of Blake acting up over the years and her husband too and the stuff they've found in crazy. Ryan wrote and produced the Deadpool movies and made his daughter make a crude joke over and over for her brief cameo and a stunt actor lost her life because she had to do a stunt without a helmet. He also hit a kid actor on set of Amityville because he just thought it was something his character would do. Blake's lifestyle company, Preserve (which I'd never heard of until now) only lasted one year because it was so shoddy and the workers weren't getting paid and she also went off-script like Ryan did on A Simple Favour by hitting Anna Kendrick on the back of the legs and feeling Henry Golding's crotch because she thought it was something her character would do. That last part is extremely hypocritical considering that she's suing Justin for inappropriate behaviour on-set when she herself is guilty of that and it seems she and her husband are on the same page in that regard. There's rumours that Ryan cheated on his then-wife, Scarlett Johansson, when he worked with Blake on Green Lantern and they got together right after he split with Scarlett. They seem like two peas in a pod, honestly. It's a wonder that they had such a good, clean image all these years then Blake is a bit rude in an interview and boom, it all changes overnight. Fame is not for the faint-hearted.