Amid sexual harassment allegations by Blake Lively and retaliation by Seraph of the End co-star and director Justin Baldoni and his crisis publicist, the Wayfarer Studios co-founder’s publicist is currently It is stated as follows. We must go above and beyond to protect our clients. ”
“It’s not shocking because it doesn’t fit the story, but what the carefully selected message didn’t include was that it wasn’t the ‘slander’ it was implied to be, no negative publicity was promoted, and social There was no battle plan. It’s our job to be prepared for any scenario, so we were prepared for it, but we didn’t have to implement anything because the internet did the work for us,” Jennifer Abel said this weekend. Public PR & Marketing Facebook Text Message Group.
Lively’s December 20 complaint to the California Department of Civil Rights is not officially a lawsuit, as it has received strong support from Colleen Hoover, author of It Ends With Us, and many of Hollywood’s biggest stars. I should point that out. This behavior, illustrated in graphics and text (read it here), includes a cameo appearance by spouse Ryan Reynolds and apparent repeated misconduct by Baldoni and his Wayfarer colleagues and their public relations team. There are many references to Lively’s efforts to stop the aforementioned harassment, along with very specific examples of conduct. While not a formal lawsuit unless a settlement is reached as soon as possible, Lively’s action is a clear salvo to a lawsuit that could soon be filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.
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The denial by Baldoni’s attorney Brian Friedman came in the aftermath of Lively’s explosive allegations involving the role of Melissa Nathan and her company, The Agency Group PR LLC. As Deadline exclusively reported, the Jane the Virgin alum was subsequently fired by his and Lively’s mutual agency WME on December 21st. With all of this in mind, publicist Abel took to an industry chat group this weekend to offer her version of what really happened in the so-called smear campaign against the Gossip Girl star.
“And yes, we joked, rejoicing in the fact that our fans recognized our client’s heart and work even when we didn’t do anything. As shown in the text, I We were overjoyed again during our sophomore year, and we were overjoyed during our sophomore year, and the internet feedback for the women whose team made our lives incredibly difficult during the campaign. “We once again joked with each other privately,” said their PR company, RWA Communications. she added in her Facebook post. “I’m human,” she continued. “On top of our day-to-day work, we put in long hours and months of preparation… It was great to see that although we were prepared, we didn’t have to go overboard to protect our clients. I was so happy.”
Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively “It Ends with Us”
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Rumors of a rift surrounding Baldoni’s domestic violence-themed film It Ends With Us spread before its release, and the two have never been seen doing any press activities together in the run-up to its August premiere. As a result, social media was attacked with various feeds. And the platform seemed to be pointing fingers at Lively. Calling it a “coordinated effort to destroy her reputation,” the actress details her own subjective footage of the “astroturfing” in her complaint. Lively emphasizes how the “emotional impact” on her has been “extreme,” but also emphasizes how it has affected her “family, including my husband and four children.” There is.
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Abel also said in his post that his texts and other communications were obtained by Lively’s attorneys at Mannatt Phelps & Phillips and Willkie Farr & Gallagher, and that they are involved in a dirty PR business that protects show business and its entertainment industry. He also said he had no idea there was a tsunami of hateful media coverage. The stars that followed. Abel called the move by Lively’s team a “coordinated effort” that he had seen before, writing in a Facebook post: Everyone was involved in the campaign, my boss had oversight, and he had access to my work email and work phone, so you can guess what I’d do from there. ”
After revealing some of how the sausage of the celebrity PR machine is actually made in the age of candid influencers and online media, Abel goes on to say:
Now, what kind of woman would cooperate with another woman who was the victim of all that has been alleged? Thank you for your question. After considering the evidence, the facts, and the hard evidence that refutes everything that was asserted and requested at the outset of production, I stand with a client of nearly five years who has dedicated his life to the equal treatment of others. selected. Especially as a representative of women who never treat others negatively, who have a great community and team at Wayfarer, who all have the same moral fortitude and live their lives accordingly. We all have to make that choice. It was our best to realize our abilities and be satisfied with our efforts. Is my client perfect? No, in fact, he frequently says he’s not perfect. So much so that I tell him he needs to be more self-deprecating because it can be taken the wrong way. Are Blake’s feelings valid? It’s not my place to state or speculate on what she was feeling at that moment she claims. And if that’s not true and there’s evidence to prove otherwise, by the end of the day, by proxy, you’ll never accuse another woman of telling your truth. I also have to do what I think is right.
RELATED: Colleen Hoover supports Blake Lively amid Justin Baldoni lawsuit: ‘It’s definitely not Wilt’
Abel did not respond to Deadline’s request for comment on the social media post. However, we have confirmed that this is indeed the case. She wrote the letter.
Back in February 2023, Abel was named a partner at Jones Works. While at Jonesworks, she worked with then-client Dwayne Johnson on the Netflix hit Red Notice (co-starring Lively’s spouse Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot) and his Warner Bros. He collaborated on the DC movie “Black Adam.” Previously with the company, Abel was named head of entertainment in the Los Angeles office in 2019, overseeing a period of strong growth and launching the company’s social media and digital division. Prior to joining Jonesworks, Abel was a Vice President at Rogers & Cowan PMK.
While everyone involved waits for the next pair of shoes to come out from WME reps Lively (and Reynolds) or Baldoni, another force that has been as silent as a church mouse has gotten involved in this issue. are.
Evidence of an extensive timeline, a pivotal “all-hands-on” production meeting on January 4, and specific demands for the participation of studio personnel on and off set, as well as Melissa Nathan and an anonymous studio publicist. Sony was clearly not an innocent bystander to what was going on behind the scenes on It Ends With Us, considering the seemingly damning exchange between them. Additionally, in releasing Lively’s cut of Baldoni’s film, the studio acknowledged that, to put it politely, there were disagreements about what was going on in It Ends with Us. I was doing it.
This is despite IEWU’s marketing campaign, in which Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Lively apparently do no press together, and Sony has so far remained silent. Sony did not respond to Deadline’s request for specific comment on Lively’s claims. I’ll update if that’s the case.
Let me be clear: there was a lot of money involved here.
After a frugal production budget of $25 million and a temporary shutdown due to last year’s WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, “It Ends with Us” grossed a whopping $50 million at the domestic box office. In the United States, it grossed just over $148 million, or just over $351 million. 1 million worldwide.
That’s why Sony is so keen to move the release date for “It Ends with Us” from February 9th to three weekends after the eventual release of blockbuster “Deadpool & Wolverine” on August 9th. Changed. It was a distribution move that paid off for Lively, who had a cameo in her husband Reynolds’ Marvel Studios production. The R-rated movie was still clearing the smoke from its picture. Despite this, Sony at the time didn’t realize how big It Ends With Us would become until pre-orders began the week of the picture’s release.
Sony officials told Deadline during IEWU’s opening weekend that, as a producer and film marketing guru, Lively would play an integral role in the film’s social media promotion efforts, and that the romantic film about domestic violence would With a big smile on his face, he said that it was a “great creative achievement” that would definitely make it into a movie. It wasn’t like a Hallmark movie.
Lively said she wasn’t surprised by the first cut of the trailer, helping edit it and securing the rights to her friend Taylor Swift’s song “My Tears Ricochet.” The film’s marketing largely avoided themes of domestic violence, and given that Lively’s character Lily is a flower shop owner, the film’s floral aesthetic and other beauty and fashion trends in the film I was leaning heavily towards aesthetics. During the promotional tour for this photo, he also had time to joke. On social media, Deadpool and Wolverine stars Reynolds and Hugh Jackman and Reynolds’ mother blasted a reporter with a junket bomb, and It Ended with Us star Brandon Attacked Skenner. During the opening weekend of “It Ends with Us,” one studio insider said of Lively’s small touches in the photo campaign, “I wish she had worked for us full time.” beamed.
Interestingly, during the It Ends With Us press tour, Baldoni told EW that when it comes to an It Ends With Us sequel, “I think Blake Lively is ready to direct it.” .
That concept seems to be over.
