In my post last week, after Justin Baldoni formally filed his lawsuit against Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, I called it a “Lawsuit for Gossip” and here’s how I ended that article – sorry to quote myself:
“… prior to the Depp-Heard trial, audio recordings were leaked online that were then taken out of context and often edited to further the narrative that Amber was manipulative, out of control, and schemed Johnny’s downfall. These recordings were widely shared on socials, picked apart on YouTube, a huge contributor to the online attacks against Amber in favour of Johnny.
How long before this happens with Blake with footage from the It Ends With Us set? As I was reading Justin Baldoni’s lawsuit, with all the back and forth about Blake insisting on securing the footage from filming, I was thinking about how all that film would be used for the actual movie but also for either protection or as artillery. That, again, depends on how social media wants to interpret it. How often does the internet interpret to a woman’s benefit? HAHAHAHAHAAH. So far, as we’ve seen, Justin has the advantage there.”
We didn’t have to wait even a week – late yesterday TMZ obtained footage from Justin Baldoni from the set of It Ends With Us, a dance scene that Blake refers to in her complaint during which she claims that Justin touched her without consent, citing it as one of the instances of sexual harassment. Justin’s side believes that this footage supports his denial. So, where the lawsuit for gossip is concerned… this is video assumption, and if you’ve been visiting our site through the years, you know that photo and video assumption has long been a menu feature at the gossip buffet. Never mind that it’s not all that reliable – from fake baby bump forensics to red carpet and award show interactions (most recently whether or not Demi Moore snubbed Kylie Jenner at the Golden Globes) – anyone who has ever participated in celebrity gossip (basically everyone) has played the game of video assumption, drawing baseless conclusions from still or video footage filtered through the lens of our own personal experiences and biases.
And this is what’s happening here with Blake and Justin. For example, over on our Substack, The Squawk, community members were pretty evenly split on their interpretation of what they were seeing in the video of Blake and Justin. Some thought this made Blake look bad because Justin was not behaving inappropriately and she didn’t look bothered. Others thought she did look bothered because she'd not consented to his actions in advance.
In a statement following the release of the video, Blake’s lawyers say that:
"Justin Baldoni and his lawyer may hope that this latest stunt will get ahead of the damaging evidence against him, but the video itself is damning. The video shows Mr Baldoni repeatedly leaning in toward Ms Lively, attempting to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face and mouth against her neck, flicking her lip with his thumb, caressing her, telling her how good she smells, and talking with her out of character. Every frame of the released footage corroborates, to the letter, what Ms. Lively described in Paragraph 48 of her Complaint. Every moment of this was improvised by Mr Baldoni with no discussion or consent in advance and no intimacy coordinator present. Mr Baldoni was not only Ms Lively's co-star, but the director, the head of studio and Ms Lively's boss.
The video shows Ms. Lively leaning away and repeatedly asking for the characters to just talk. Any woman who has been inappropriately touched in the workplace will recognize Ms. Lively’s discomfort. They will recognize her attempts at levity to try to deflect the unwanted touching. No woman should have to take defensive measures to avoid being touched by their employer without their consent.
This matter is in active litigation in federal court. Releasing this video to the media, rather than presenting it as evidence in court, is another example of an unethical attempt to manipulate the public. It is also a continuation of their harassment and retaliatory campaign. While they are focused on misleading media narratives, we are focused on the legal process. We are continuing our efforts to require Mr. Baldoni and his associates to answer in court, under oath, rather than through manufactured media stunts.”
A statement, in these times, is not as effective as a video that can make its way around social media and get edited into a million TikToks with talking authoritatively about what they think is happening – and, as we already know, the internet is already predisposed to be against Blake. As expected then, advantage Baldoni. Big advantage to Baldoni in the court he seems to want to keep playing on: the court of public opinion. After all, the internet court – and real courts too, actually – are full of himpathy, notoriously unkind to women. Baldoni, a proper feminist, would know this. It must be such a relief to him and his supporters that he can lean on the internet to help his case. And he’s showing his gratitude by launching a website soon where he’ll upload more documents supporting his position so that TikTok can create even more content and have it amplified online, creating almost … like… a video game?
Justin is tapping into the voracious appetite online for true crime, as more and more people who aren’t technically qualified investigators and legal experts doing CSI and Law & Order on the “evidence” they’ve been provided from his side. Pretty soon, even if there are some people who don’t see this one video as the smoking gun he thinks it is, it could just end up being an issue of volume, with people conflating the amount of “evidence” to be conclusive evidence as they continue playing this game. And on top of the fact, again, the lack of credentials here, it’s the dehumanisation that results from this kind of gamification. I don’t know about you but I find the marriage of dehumanisation and himpathy f-cking terrifying. And also, it’s bad for gossip.
Gossip is a very human activity, a form of communication. What we often do here at LaineyGossip is explore how celebrity gossip can tell us more about who we are than the people we gossip about. How when we’re gossiping about celebrities, we’re actually sharing our own beliefs, our boundaries and standards, because we all gossip through a lens that is personal and unique to us. So with this video in particular, and how I interpret it, here is my lens that’s personal and unique to me.
A few years ago, at a major television event in Canada, I was assigned to interview an American television star, known for multiple long-running TV series, who is considered to be very attractive. We did the interview in an elevator (the lighting was good and there was a nice view out the back, which was glass) so it was me, the actor, cameraperson, sound person, and producer. The actor seemed to find it sexy that we were talking in an elevator. So he was playing with that vibe during the interview and took it too far by kissing me. Not a peck. But a lingering kiss that was meant to seduce. I was not prepared. I did not kiss him back but I also did not pull away.
If you watch the video back, I’m laughing after the kiss. I play it off like, “OMG that was hilarious!” And we kept talking. Later on, I was all bravado, telling my colleagues, “You wouldn’t believe what happened – isn’t that crazy?!” For the rest of the day it was shared as an anecdote, not just by me but by others on our team, some of them remarking on how good looking the actor is, the suggestion being that it must have been a fun experience for me.
It was not fun for me, but I didn’t know how to articulate it. I was embarrassed and uncomfortable about it, on multiple levels. On top of the fact that I had no choice in the kiss, and that I felt like people were talking about me (maybe they weren’t, but in my mind, when something like that goes down, you think you’re the reason for all the whispers), and doubting myself about whether or not I had invited it, I was also worried about Jacek, my husband. Because that was an interview meant for broadcast across the country. So I was kinda f-cked up below the surface. On the surface though? All good, no problem. Only I would know, if someone played me that tape, what the signs were. Only I would know how I was really, really processing that moment.
So this Blake and Justin scene? I see signs. I see apprehension. I see discomfort. I wonder though if it’s a similar lens for some actors. Possibly the actors who might be involved in It Ends With Us. Certainly the actors who aren’t part of the movie but who have supported Blake – they could be filtering it through the lens I just described. Which, again, is my personal lens. It might not be your lens and that’s my point about gossip. Our takes will always be shaped by our experiences and in sharing them we might understand each other better.