Blake Lively accused of using reporter ‘as a pawn’ in Justin Baldoni’s sexual harassment lawsuit
A journalist caught in the crossfire of Hollywood stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni the public claimed that the actress used her “as a pawn”.
Norwegian entertainment reporter Kjersti Flaa is involved in Lively’s sexual harassment lawsuit against Baldoni after the two starred together in the Colleen Hoover adaptation of “It Ends With Us.” Since the film’s premiere, Lively has accused Baldoni of engaging in a deliberate smear campaign to destroy the actress’ reputation.
During the “It Ends With Us” press tour in August, Flaa uploaded a video interview with Lively in 2016 titled “Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job.” Flaa appears to have had an awkward moment with Lively after congratulating the “Gossip Girl” star on her pregnancy.
“My name is just printed in the lawsuit and there’s really no context around it – just a headline from a news outlet [that covered Flaa’s video] … But they didn’t mention my video in the lawsuit anymore because they know it has nothing to do with it [Baldoni’s] campaign, so they couldn’t put it in any legal papers. Instead, they gave it to the New York Times,” the reporter said Anklet. – They saw that they could insinuate that I had something to do with it.
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are seen on the set of “It Ends with Us” on January 12, 2024 in New Jersey. (Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
In the video, Flaa congratulated Lively on her “little bump.” Lively replied: “Congratulations on your little bump.” However, Flaa was not pregnant at the time. The video went viral on social media, garnering more than six million views on YouTube.
Flaa argued that the inclusion of her video in the lawsuit insinuated that she was part of Baldoni’s alleged smear campaign, but the reporter insisted that she had nothing to do with it. The New York Times, which first reported Lively’s claim, noted that Flaa had released clips of an interview with Johnny Depp during his trial against Amber Heard — noting that Depp was also a client of Baldoni’s crisis PR representative.
“It came in [Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds’] interest in pulling me down and discrediting me as a journalist and portraying me as corrupt, because then she looks better,” Flaa told The Ankler. “The public is sometimes very easy to convince, and they just want to believe the story, so it works. The way they did it was so dirty to me because I can’t defend myself. Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, they’re the powerhouses in Hollywood… They’re using me as a pawn.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to a representative for Lively, The New York Times and Flaa for further comment.
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Blake Lively has accused Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment in a federal lawsuit filed on Tuesday, December 31. (Getty Images)
“Given that Lively’s lawyers had access to thousands of pages of text messages and emails, it is hard to believe that they were unaware that I was not involved in the alleged smear campaign,” Flaa wrote in a statement to USA Today.
“That makes it all the more troubling that The New York Times chose to insinuate my involvement based solely on a hashtag from a Johnny Depp video on my YouTube channel from 2022.”
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Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds attend the premiere of “Breaking Up With Us” months before the actress sued her co-star Justin Baldoni. (Getty Images)
Vividly detailed allegations of sexual harassmentretaliation, intentional infliction of emotional pain, negligence and more by Baldoni and film producer Jamey Heath in a complaint filed first with the California Department of Civil Rights and later in federal court.
According to the complaint, obtained by Fox News Digital, the actress called an “all hands” meeting on January 4, 2024 regarding Baldoni and Heath’s alleged behavior, which her husband Ryan Reynolds attended.
“Ms. Lively was forced to speak directly to them about the misconduct of Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Heath, and began doing so months before filming began,” the complaint states. “The concerns she expressed were not just for her, but for the other female cast and crew, some of whom also spoke out.”
Justin Baldoni at the premiere of the film “It ends with us” with his wife. The actor denied Blake Lively’s accusations against him. (Getty Images)
In the previous statement for The New York Timessaid Lively, “I hope my legal action will help pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and help protect others who may be targeted.”
In addition, Lively denied that she or any of her representatives planted or spread negative information about Mr. Baldoni or Wayfarer, according to The Times.
Bryan Freedman, an attorney for Baldoni and Wayfarer, told The Times, “These claims are completely false, outrageous and deliberately twisted with the intent to publicly injure and refine the story in the media.”
Freedman added that Wayfarer, its executives and PR team “did nothing proactive or retaliatory” against Lively. Freedman claims that Lively’s complaint is “another desperate attempt to ‘repair’ her negative reputation.”
Baldoni’s lawyer hinted at the possibility of a lawsuit against Lively. (Getty Images)
Baldoni has been since then sued by The New York Times for slander. The actor’s lawyer hinted at the possibility of a separate lawsuit against Lively.
However, Livelyn’s team noted that her allegations were “supported by concrete facts.”
“This is not a ‘feud’ stemming from ‘creative differences’ or a ‘he said/she said’ situation,” her lawyers told Fox News Digital. “As Ms. Lively’s complaint alleges, and as we will prove in litigation, Wayfarer [Studios] and his associates engaged in illegal, vindictive astroturfing against Ms. Lively for simply trying to protect herself and others on a movie set. And their response to the lawsuit was to launch new attacks against Ms. Lively since her report.”
Livelyn’s lawyer says her allegations are “supported by concrete facts.” Baldoni’s lawyer says he will release “all the evidence” showing a “pattern of harassment.” (Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
Baldoni and his team claim there is more.
“It is painfully ironic that Blake Lively is accusing Justin Baldoni of weaponizing the media when her own team orchestrated this vicious attack by sending ‘The New York Times’ heavily redacted documents before it even filed a lawsuit,” Freedman said in a statement. to people.
“We are releasing all evidence that will show a pattern of harassment and threats to download the film,” Freedman added. “None of this will come as a surprise because, consistent with her past behavior, Blake Lively used other people to convey these threats and bully her to get whatever she wanted. We have all the receipts and more,” he stated.
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