If you are online, you have probably heard of the notorious big Hollywood feud that flared between the former co-stars of the movie It Ends With Us, Blake Lively, and Justin Baldoni, which ended up in a big —as it seems—legal battle.

Long story short, Blake Lively co-starred in the movie It Ends With Us, which is based on a Collin Hoover book that itself is based on the author’s family story and is about a very serious matter: intimate partner violence. The movie's production was under Wayfarer company, of which Justin Baldoni is a co-founder, and their primary goal was to raise awareness about DV and create a film that could leave a positive impact not only for DV victims but also for the rest of the world. Baldony is one of the co-stars and the film director, and Blake Lively co-starred with him. At first glance, it seemed like an excellent opportunity to address such an important issue affecting millions of women —and men— worldwide and spread awareness around it.

However, even though the initiative was very well accepted by the public, the storm clouds brewing in the relationship between Lively and Baldoni first appeared during the film's promotion, when many noticed that they both intensively promoted the movie —however, not together.

During the promotional interviews, people noticed Baldony promoting the film alone and Lively with the rest of the cast and the book's author in separate events. Also, it was widely noticed that both parties promoted the movie significantly differently. Baldoni insisted on the importance of spreading awareness of domestic violence and gave a positive message to women, while Lively and the rest of the crew talked about flowers and treated the movie as a rom-com rather than a DV-related movie. Things escalated during the premiere when Lively and Baldony were not seen together on the red carpet, and people started mentioning that Lively was promoting her brands, her husband’s —Ryan Reynolds— new movie, and everything else but the actual movie.

And suddenly, Blake Lively was a target of substantial online -and offline- scrutiny about the way she promoted such a delicate matter. Videos and old interviews started appearing, and suddenly, Lively became the talk of the town —in a very discouraging way. She received —and is still receiving— enormous backlash about her past and current attitude, beliefs, statements, and general behavior. And then, almost 4 months after the premiere, which, nevertheless, was a box office success, Lively sued Baldony with sexual harassment allegations, as well as allegations that he and his PR team started a smear campaign against her in order to destroy her reputation. The exact moment she filed her complaint, the New York Times published an extended article about the case, alleging that Baldoni not only harassed Lively but also tried to destroy her career, which resulted in her losing significant amounts of money from her brands. The article also published her complaint in which there were messages and communications from Baldoni and his team trying to influence the media and allegedly “planting” stories in order to make her seem evil to the public. And it worked since a lot stood by her side, accusing Baldony and making statements about sexual harassment and how cruel the media can be for ruining people’s reputations.

This lasted for about 2 weeks, during which Baldoni faced a considerable backlash, ending in an award being taken away that he had just won just one day before Lively’s complaint, his co-host withdrawing from his podcast in support of Blake Lively, and his talent company immediately dropping him. And then he replied; and he replied with evidence that allegedly overturned Lively’s case since, as it seems from both his lawsuits, one against the New York Times and one against Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and a couple of other people, there were messages that, according to his attorney, were “cherry-picked” in order to destroy his reputation and that were misleading, leading to Baldoni losing jobs, money and his reputation. And then immediately things turned again, and now both the power couple Lively-Reynolds are facing vast backlash and are being “canceled,” and Baldony seems to be gaining popularity. And every day is full of new revelations about the case, which, for now, is still developing.

However, all this mess after the movie, apart from the distress and tension caused to the relative parties, has raised a lot of food for thought for the people who monitor it —and those who don’t. This case is disturbing in so many ways and whether you have already picked sides or clearly don’t bother to care much, some matters can be really bothering and raise questions and concerns about not only Hollywood but the modern working environment in general.

The “we don’t think before we speak”

Aka, how we jump to conclusions instantly the moment we hear something. Most of us are lucky to be part of the democratic world, which implies that each one of us can form opinions and have the right to express them. However, being fixated on our views is not an extremely helpful skill, especially in an era where everything is fluid, and things move too fast, too furious. Even if things are fluid, jumping to conclusions, picking sides too quickly, or forming an opinion that we change after a couple of hours is at least concerning. As one professor of mine at college used to say, “read the story, double check the facts, understand them, and then you will begin to form your own opinion.” It’s amazing how people get fixated on something one day, and then they read something else, and then suddenly, their whole mindset is completely switched. Also, we read one line and rush to judge without doing the appropriate research.

The media chaos

It’s incredible how the media nowadays present facts without any form of filtering, without proper research, and without trying to maintain objectivity in stating the facts. Journalistic objectivity has long been debated. While many argue that it’s impossible to retain it since journalists are people with opinions, which is good, the problem lies in when we need the facts and when we need the opinion. In this case, for instance, we read about it usually on the one side, and there is a strong sense of individual views rather than stating what is happening. Understandably, many factors contribute to writing on a topic, but the amount of fake news to only get views and sell is overwhelming and harms the whole media sector, cultivating doubts in the audience and making them seem not credible. The obsession over the little details that have nothing to do with the case is also unimaginable. Nobody cares if Blake & Taylor will keep being friends—or nobody who isn’t part of the friendship should.

The online rage

It’s unbelievable how much rage seems to be around and expressed on social media about others and cases that don’t even affect them directly. It’s very okay to express an opinion and even more okay to disagree with others —that’s the spirit of fruitful conversations. But those conversations have been replaced by online feuds, insults, and an extreme fixation on one’s ideas without even wanting to listen to the other opinion. Even when someone expresses a neutral opinion, they are slammed because they don’t pick sides. It’s nice to be passionate, but on the other hand, maybe we should choose the right things to be passionate about —and certainly not the things that have nothing to do with us. How much do those people for whom you fight online really care about you? Not much.

The fact that domestic violence is treated with such “lightness”

The main topic of this movie and the subsequent legal battle is domestic violence and, in general, the subject of harassment and abuse. However, the topic is overshadowed by other substantial things that are unimportant and can divert us entirely from the essence. That said, we must focus on the critical parts of a case, which in real life is related to harassment. Whether it’s true or not, it’s better to talk more about that and less about what each one of the parties had done in the previous years. And for those who say that Blake Lively damaged the #metoo movements —if it’s proven that she lied about her allegations, then yes. But, on the other hand, why should we give a person the power to “damage” something that others initiated and have been fighting for? I don’t think anyone has such power.

The lack of professionalism

What I have been monitoring during this whole case is the lack of professionalism that is prevalent these days. People who don’t read the books for the movies they are supposed to star, PR teams who reveal each other's “dirty laundry” when things don’t go as planned, bullying and harassment, and the fact that grown people and professionals drag their friends and families into their business matters. This shows a lack of professional values, and it’s not justified because it’s… Hollywood. People should sign contracts, provide safe environments for their employees, and fulfill their contractual obligations. And if they have opinions on the workflow, they should respectfully address them to their colleagues and gracefully accept if they get rejected, no matter how “important” they feel or how “powerful” friends they have. Also, I would never bring my husband to clean up the mess if I had an issue at work —that’s why there are HR professionals. In real life, when employees encounter difficulties at work, they don’t call their family to help them overcome it, and certainly, the family doesn’t go and meddle with another person’s colleagues, employer, and business partners.

The lousy marketing tactics that are used

Apart from the media chaos mentioned above, this case brought to the surface the dark side of marketing and how it can harm reputations, influence people negatively, and impact perceptions. Apart from harming people and brands, these tactics negatively impact the marketing field and make the audience suspicious towards other brands. It creates a negative perception of digital marketing, which has more complications and harms serious professionals who invest in this field and actually use marketing in an ethical and constructive way. This is unfair, considering marketing strategies should be used carefully, with integrity, and with intention. Marketing and PR are not about harming our opponent’s reputation to show we are better; they are both about communicating our message respectfully and creatively to create a lasting impression and positively engage with our target audience—not creating impressions and rage among people.

Photo credits

Cover, Image 1, Image 2, Image 3