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Is Nick Viall still on Team Blake?
When people started catching on to the feud between Blake Lively and her It Ends With Us co-star/director Justin Baldoni over the summer, it didn’t take long for the past to creep up and tip the scales against the Gossip Girl star. Old interviews and stories about Blake resurfaced online, convincing many she’s rude and a mean girl. Remember that “little bump” convo or the bombshell that she allegedly bullied journalists to cover up that Ryan Reynolds cheated on Scarlett Johansson with her? Yeahhhh. As everything came to light, Blake received a lot of hate from folks online! She basically got the label of being the Regina George of Hollywood!
Related: Justin Baldoni Shares Photo Proof Of ‘Being Held’ In Basement At IEWU Premiere!
However, there was at least one person on her side: Nick Viall. He refused to jump on the Blake Lively hate train! Why? On an episode of The Viall Files podcast in August, The Bachelor alum could not get over the fact that Justin hired PR crisis manager Melissa Nathan, who represented Johnny Depp during his legal battle with Amber Heard, just as Blake is getting “eviscerated” on the internet. It seemed fishy to him! And that wasn’t the only thing that raised an eyebrow for Nick!
While the reality star recognizes Blake may have a rep of being “a jerk at times,” that “doesn’t explain” to him why the cast members unfollowed Justin on social media and distanced themselves from him. Watch his viral initial hot take on the situation (below):
Nick was maybe onto something — because when Blake later accused Justin of sexual harassment, she also claimed he and his crisis PR team launched a smear campaign to ruin her reputation in retaliation for speaking out about the hostile work environment.
Justin vehemently denied the accusations, alleging she was a bully who started a smear campaign to destroy his career, not the other way around. He maintains her plan was to take over the whole movie from him, and all this was to discredit him. He then filed a few lawsuits of his own, including one against Blake and Ryan for multiple claims. In them, he dropped a lot of receipts to try to prove his case!
So the legal war is upon us! Neither of these two is backing down! And after both have filed lawsuits, pretty much everyone is taking a side.
But has Nick changed his stance on the It Ends With Us drama? Not at all! And ultimately, he says, it’s because of an interaction he had with Justin years ago! You see, the television personality interviewed the actor on The Viall Files in January 2023. Take a look (below):
Turns out Nick did not get a good vibe from him at the time! In fact, he said in a new interview with Bustle on Thursday that he didn’t seem like an ultra-feminist IRL as he “portrayed himself to be!” What?! So he was already being fake in Nick’s eyes? Apparently. That’s why he wasn’t “surprised” Blake and the cast wanted nothing to do with him! He explained:
“I had the chance to interview Justin a couple of years ago on my show, and I just had a feeling he wasn’t the person he so loudly portrayed himself to be. When the story broke that the entire cast and author of the book [the movie is based on] had clearly distanced themselves from him, I wasn’t that surprised. However, I was surprised how quickly the Internet seemed to start trying to find reasons to discredit Blake by bringing up old interviews and past alleged mistakes.”
Does anyone else think Blake is gonna shoot Nick a DM after this? LOLz! Speaking about the backlash around the Green Lantern star, he felt people just grabbed onto “other people’s opinions” instead of thinking for themselves. Damn. He continued:
“I think the Internet has made it easier for people to share other people’s opinions rather than come up with their own. This story just kind of reinforced that. When I shared my opinion on this topic, I didn’t see it as speaking out as much; it was me sharing my opinion and challenging my audience to ask themselves different questions.”
Hmm…
Whether Nick’s opinions will change as the legal battle goes on, we’ll see. For now, he’s sticking with Blake… and most likely will continue to blast Justin on his podcast. Oof. What are YOUR thoughts, Perezcious readers? Sound OFF in the comments below.
[Image via MEGA/WENN, Nick Viall/YouTube]
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