Blake Lively’s lawsuit against her It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni includes evidence pointing towards an alleged social media smear campaign against the actress. “We can’t write we will destroy her,” read one text from Melissa Nathan, the crisis management expert Baldoni hired. “You know we can bury anyone. But I can’t write that to him.” Nathan seemingly knows the takedown protocol well. She previously worked for Johnny Depp during his defamation trial against Amber Heard. And Heard knows how Lively might be feeling.
“Social media is the absolute personification of the classic saying ‘A lie travels halfway around the world before truth can get its boots on,’” Heard wrote in a statement to NBC News. “I saw this firsthand and up close. It’s as horrifying as it is destructive.”
While Heard was awarded $2 million for one of three claims filed in the countersuit against her ex-husband, Depp was awarded $10 million in compensatory damages plus punitive damages of $5 million. Following the verdict, legal representatives for Heard blamed the widespread and vitriolic social media campaign against the actress for influencing the jury’s decision.
During the trial, thousands of videos were uploaded on TikTok in which users mocked and reenacted a clip of Heard describing a moment in which she claimed Depp slapped her across the face. For the six-week duration of the trial, jurors were told to avoid social media. Still, Heard’s attorney, Elaine Bredehoft, stated: “There’s no way they couldn’t have been influenced by it, and it was horrible. It really, really was lopsided.”
Heard and Lively are among the likes of Angelina Jolie, Megan Thee Stallion, and Evan Rachel Wood in this shared experience of speaking out about abuse, only to be met with the wrath of social media sensationalization.
In the lawsuit documents, which accuse Baldoni of both on-set sexual harassment and a smear campaign against Lively, text messages show Baldoni using a thread about “hailey bieber’s history of bullying many women” as a reference for potential strategies to enact against Lively. “All press is so overwhelming,” Nathan wrote. “We’ve confused people. So much mixed messaging. It’s actually really funny if you think about it … The majority of socials are so pro Justin and I don’t even agree with half of them lol.”
It Ends With Us author Colleen Hoover, as well as actresses America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, and Alexis Bledel, have voiced their support for Lively.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
