Justin Baldoni's publicist, Jennifer Abel, broke her silence on the leaked text messages about Blake Lively after the Gossip Girl star accused him of sexual harassment in a new lawsuit.
Blake is suing Justin for “sexual harassment" on the set of It Ends With Us, alongside claims that the actor made a concerted effort to “destroy her reputation.” He has denied the accusations made against him. She played florist Lily Bloom who suffers domestic abuse at the hands of her neurosurgeon husband Ryle Kincaid, portrayed by Justin - who also directed the film.
According to a sexual harassment lawsuit filed to the California Civil Rights Department on Friday, the online backlash against Blake wasn't an organic reaction to the star's interviewing conduct but a heavily orchestrated campaign against her. Negative stories, it is alleged, had been deliberately planted in an attempt to 'bury her'. Excerpts from text messages and emails have been published by the New York Times, which she says she acquired through a subpoena.
Blake's team say that text messages included as part of the legal complaint reveal an alleged 'multi-tiered plan that Mr. Baldoni and his team described as 'social manipulation' designed to 'destroy' Ms. Lively's reputation', which the actress claims started after she raised concerns about conditions on set.
Image:
GC Images)Image:
Getty Images)Jennifer Abel's texts with crisis management expert Melissa Nathan were published as part of her lawsuit. However, Jennifer took to Facebook to defend her messages with Melissa and denied there was a 'smear' campaign against Blake.
"What the cherry-picked messages don't include, although not shockingly as it doesn't fit the narrative, is that there was no 'smear' implemented," she said. "No negative press was ever facilitated, no social combat plan, although we were prepared for it as it's our job to be ready for any scenario. But we didn't have to implement anything because the internet was doing the work for us.
"Sure we talked about it, contemplated if we needed certain things, flagged accounts that we needed to monitor, worked with a social team to help us stay on top of the narrative so we could act quickly if needed, and yes, we rejoiced and joked in the fact that fans were recognizing our clients heart and work without us having to do anything but keep our heads down and focus on positive interviews for our client... as the texts show, we sophomorically reveled and again, joked, privately to each other about the internets feedback to the woman whose team was making our lives incredibly difficult over the course of the campaign. I'm human.
"The long hours, months of preparation, on top of my day to day scope... it felt good to see that although we were prepared, we didn't have to do anything over the top to protect our client. I was notified at the start of the [marketing] campaign that the opposing team had been planting horrible stories about my client as a 'fail safe' if my client did not comply with the demands set forth for the campaign which is why we brought on [a crisis team], as it's not something that I do."
Image:
Sony Pictures)She claimed: "My sole job was to put together interviews, screening opportunities and speaking opportunities for my client in support of the film, a standard scope of work. I did my job.' She went on to deny she was a woman 'working against another woman' and said she chose to stand by Justin, who has been a client of hers for almost five years.
Jennifer continued: "After reviewing the evidence, facts, hard proof that countered every single thing that was being claimed and demanded at the start of production, I made a choice to stand by my client of almost 5 years, who had dedicated his life to the equal treatment of others, especially women. Who had no incidents of negative treatment of others, and who had a wonderful community and team at wayfarer who all held the same moral fortitude and lived their life accordingly. As representatives, we all have to make that choice. So I did that to the best of my ability, and felt good about our efforts."
Attorney Bryan Freedman — who represents Baldoni, along with Jennifer and Melissa, released a statement defending their client. "TAG PR operated as any other crisis management firm would when hired by a client experiencing threats by two extremely powerful people with unlimited resources," he said referring to Blake Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds.
"The standard scenario planning TAG PR drafted proved unnecessary as audiences found Lively's own actions, interviews and marketing during the promotional tour distasteful, and responded organically to that which the media themselves picked up on. It's ironic that The New York Times, through their effort to 'uncover' an insidious PR effort, played directly into the hands of Lively's own dubious PR tactics by publishing leaked personal text exchanges that lack critical context – the very same tactics she's accusing the firm of implementing."
The alleged texts seemed to show Jennifer discussing a way for a 'smear campaign' against Blake with Melissa. Other texts also allegedly show Jennifer claiming to Melissa that Justin wants to feel 'like she can be buried’ in an alleged reference to Blake.
The Mirror have reached out to Blake's reps for comment.
Follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.
English (US) ·