Justin Baldoni hired a crisis management team to deal with his Blake Lively issues

This past weekend, This Ends With Us opened with $50 million at the domestic box office, partly driven by all of the free media the film was given. Why so much free media? Well, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds seemingly had their knives out for Justin Baldoni, who directed and starred in the film. There were lots of rumors about professional and personal beefs between Baldoni and Lively, and then during the promotional cycle, they simply refused to do any promo together. Now that IEWU is a hit, Blake wants sole credit for the success. She also wants to use the success to ensure that Baldoni is, uh, negatively affected. This week’s shady, vague People Mag article about “there is much more to this story” was enough to show me that Blake and Ryan are on the attack. Justin realized it too and he’s hired a crisis management team:

It Ends With Us director and actor Justin Baldoni has hired crisis public relations manager Melissa Nathan of The Agency Group amid reports of drama with the cast, including his costar Blake Lively, a source familiar with the matter tells PEOPLE. The film, based on the best-seller by Colleen Hoover, opened on Friday, Aug. 9.

At the New York premiere on Aug. 6, Baldoni posed his wife Emily but apart from the rest of the cast, which includes Lively, Brandon Sklenar, Isabela Ferrer and Jenny Slate. Baldoni also did not join the cast in introducing the film at the screening and has been noticeably absent from other group promotional appearances, including the London premiere.

In It Ends With Us, Baldoni and Lively play a couple whose relationship becomes abusive in nature.

Baldoni and Lively both have credits behind the camera, too. Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, secured the rights to Hoover’s book in 2019, years before Lively’s casting was announced in January 2023, and is credited as an executive producer.

[From People]

If you recognize the name of the crisis management team, it’s because they were the people hired by Johnny Depp. Which sucks – that team did more than just “let’s combat bad PR with good PR.” They hired a bot army to spread disinformation, they conducted a g–damn psyop on social media and they made a mockery of domestic violence. I don’t fault Baldoni for hiring a crisis management team – he can see what Blake and Ryan are doing and he’s prepared to fight for his reputation. But hiring this specific team is pretty gross.

What’s also funny is that Blake’s IEWU promotion was already being widely mocked and TikTok has already been ripping her a new one. To the point where Blake *finally* posted something about DV, only to see widespread mockery of that too.

blake lively posting this on IG after her ass has been getting called out for the press tour for it ends with us just being her and ryan’s side business hustle……a clown ???? pic.twitter.com/sQV93HBd74

— n (@ceokimjisoos) August 13, 2024

“lice filled hair care line” is DIABOLICAL ???????????????????? blake lively… girl i don’t think anyone can save you after this it ends with us press tour. she stated facts but ryan reynolds is not ugly at all pic.twitter.com/W28so3Nq5M

— ♡ (@laacolee) August 14, 2024

they are eating blake lively up on tiktok pic.twitter.com/XdLxGP5Pcv

— oatmeal influencer (@acechhh) August 13, 2024

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.