Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 1119 ｜ Is Blake Lively a Mean Girl？ Justin Baldoni Drama Explained (Part One)

00:00:00.860 California wildfires are ripping through the southern part of the state. I will give you an update on that and what is at least partly causing this terrible devastation.

00:00:12.940 And also today is part one of a very intricate deep dive into the conflict between actors Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively. There is so much there. A lot of lessons actually I think that we can draw from this but we are going into all of the details of their various lawsuits and tomorrow will be a very important part two.

00:00:38.780 This episode is brought to you by our friends at Life or Death Con. Life or Death Con is a conference before the March for Life in D.C. on January 23rd. I will be speaking along with many others. Go to lifeordeathcon.com. Use code Allie10 for 10% off your ticket. That's lifeordeathcon.com. Code Allie10.

00:01:08.780 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Wednesday. Hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far. Today is going to be a more pop culture focused episode. Some of you love when we do pop culture. Some of you do not like it.

00:01:24.500 So if you're not a fan of the pop culture stuff, then I would recommend skipping this episode or at least skipping that segment of this episode. But I've been wondering what is going on with this Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni drama. I've been seeing rumors and bits and pieces of this story on social media for a while.

00:01:46.560 And so I wanted to dig into it and figure out what is really going on. And I actually think it's significant and that there are some relevant lessons to draw from this drama.

00:01:58.840 So I will explain to you what is happening there, why I actually think it's significant and how I think we can learn something from it.

00:02:07.780 But first, I want to talk about something else that's going on in California right now. And that is the devastating wildfire that is ripping its way through parts of Southern California, specifically in the Pacific Palisades.

00:02:22.400 Yesterday morning around 1030 a.m., a wildfire broke out along Piedra Morata Drive in Pacific Palisades. By evening, it had grown to more than 2,900 acres.

00:02:32.660 We do not know exactly what started it. There are some guesses that it was actually a group of homeless people that had started a fire for warmth or for whatever, who knows, and that it got out of control.

00:02:47.200 And so obviously right away, we see that this is at least in part the consequence of policy decisions over the years as California has become more progressive and they have been unable or really not unable, but unwilling to do anything about the growing homelessness and public drug use problem in the state of California, that there's been all kinds of issues that have come from that.

00:03:14.080 This could be, we don't know for sure, but this could be one of the results of that unfortunate set of policy prescriptions in the name of social justice that they've put in place over the years.

00:03:28.120 Evacuation orders and warnings are currently in place for the areas affected by and surrounding the fire. Residents have been ordered to go to their nearest evacuation shelter.

00:03:37.600 The fire grew exponentially overnight due to winds up to 100 miles per hour, and so it's just the perfect storm.

00:03:47.660 The combination of wind and fire is obviously a very deleterious one.

00:03:53.140 So this also makes it very difficult to maintain. There are so many firefighters out there right now doing the very best that they can with the resources that they have.

00:04:03.300 In fact, at least a couple of you have reached out to me via Instagram telling me that your husbands are out there right now fighting the fire.

00:04:11.900 Before we say anything else, I just want you to know, and I want to ask the rest of my audience to please pray specifically for the firefighters.

00:04:21.080 Pray for their protection. Pray that God would give them supernatural energy and strength and courage,

00:04:27.700 that they would be preserved, and that they would have the ability to put out and to contain these fires.

00:04:35.740 And also just pray for rain. Pray that God would give mercy through rain that would snuff out the fires entirely.

00:04:46.480 Early this morning, the LA Times reported that some firefighters were reporting over internal radio systems

00:04:51.940 that the fire hydrants in the area were dry, that they were unable to pump water from them.

00:04:57.880 So even though the firefighters are doing what they're supposed to do, they're doing everything they can,

00:05:03.220 they have to rely on these fire hydrants, and they can't even do that because the city was completely unprepared.

00:05:11.100 Now, why would California, with its history of devastating wildfires, be unprepared, this unprepared,

00:05:20.620 that they would not even have water in their fire hydrants?

00:05:24.860 Well, we've got some guesses as to why, and we'll get to that in a second.

00:05:29.040 A spokesperson for the Department of Water and Power acknowledged reports of diminished water flow from hydrants,

00:05:33.960 but did not have details on the number of hydrants without water or the scale of the issue.

00:05:39.340 The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said that wind gusts up to 60 miles an hour are expected to continue.

00:05:47.280 And we've got kind of a picture, a map of where the fires are right now.

00:05:53.080 As of this morning, the fire has burned almost 3,000 acres.

00:05:57.140 It is 0% contained.

00:05:59.860 There are some really scary videos going around right now on X from people who have been unable to escape the fire,

00:06:08.820 or this was right before they evacuated.

00:06:11.700 Absolutely terrifying.

00:06:13.320 Here's SOT 10.

00:06:17.280 I just, I've never been in a situation like that.

00:06:30.660 I don't even know what you do.

00:06:33.140 Did that person die?

00:06:34.940 What happens there?

00:06:37.220 My goodness.

00:06:38.820 Imagine if you have children, if you have babies, if you, oh my, oh my goodness.

00:06:43.560 I can't imagine the panic and the terror that is, that is being felt.

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00:08:13.380 Rick Caruso, he is a billionaire and a real estate developer.

00:08:17.400 He called into LA Local News to talk about the issue.

00:08:23.100 He called into Fox 11 and said this.

00:08:26.440 He said, this is like a third-world country.

00:08:28.380 There is no water coming out of the fire hydrants.

00:08:31.380 LA Mayor Karen Bass is on a foreign trip to Ghana.

00:08:35.600 We don't need local officials, by the way, to be traveling to foreign countries.

00:08:39.820 We don't.

00:08:40.900 The president, certain members of the presidential administration may need to do that for strategic and specific reasons.

00:08:49.500 We don't need mayors to do that. 0.92

00:08:51.240 There is zero reason for you to abandon your post, although Karen Bass is not known for maintaining her post in a way that is effective or protective of her constituents at all.

00:09:03.960 So maybe it makes no difference, but at the very least, it is a symbol of her dereliction of duty.

00:09:09.600 And we see this in politicians really across the aisle.

00:09:13.060 But specifically when it comes to these progressive activists, they want power. 0.96

00:09:17.820 They are corrupt to the core. 0.68

00:09:20.540 They are interested in lining their own pockets. 0.94

00:09:23.540 They're interested in pushing their ideology, which is politically and financially expedient to them.

00:09:29.220 They really don't care about serving the people that elected them to serve them.

00:09:35.140 And so, again, this is the result of specific policy decisions, just as we talked about yesterday and Monday.

00:09:43.200 The disasters, many of them that we see, whether it's in our health care system, whether it's in our inner cities, when you're talking about homelessness or drug use,

00:09:51.800 or the recidivism rate where you've got criminals getting out of jail or being bailed out easily and then going on to create further victims, the crisis at the border, the fentanyl crisis, the stealing of our technologies, of our national security secrets by nefarious people here from the CCP or other countries.

00:10:14.840 All of these are the results of specific policy decisions.

00:10:19.620 They're not inevitable, and a lot of what is happening here in California right now is not inevitable.

00:10:27.860 The L.A. Fire Department launched their DEI, that's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Bureau, in January 2023.

00:10:36.960 ABC 7 called their lack of past DEI initiatives a crisis that the department was responding to.

00:10:45.700 This was a while ago when they aired this particular segment about it.

00:10:51.860 Here is SOT 9.

00:10:53.300 The department's first ever Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Bureau will launch in January, one year since its first ever female fire chief, Kristen Crowley, was appointed.

00:11:01.680 So by creating this new bureau, our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Bureau, now we actually have the staff to do the work when it comes to doing a deep dive in regard to how we do business, how we take care of one another in the fire stations and in our work environment.

00:11:16.480 So there you have it.

00:11:20.480 That was the crisis that they were focusing on.

00:11:22.320 That was where they were putting their time, their effort, their money.

00:11:28.540 Here's what I said on X, and I'll just reiterate it.

00:11:33.340 DEI is a tool of destruction.

00:11:35.940 Everywhere it is wielded.

00:11:37.660 There are some people, even on the conservative side, who would say, oh, well, parts of DEI are necessary.

00:11:43.780 They might even say diversity is our strength.

00:11:47.160 Certainly people on the progressive side.

00:11:49.760 Diversity of sexual preferences.

00:11:51.880 Diversity of so-called gender identity.

00:11:53.900 Diversity of skin color.

00:11:55.300 Diversity of immigrant status.

00:11:56.980 This is all so important to have this kind of representation among our firefighters, among our police officers, among our congresspeople, among our military.

00:12:05.900 Let me just tell you right now, it is not.

00:12:07.860 It's not only important, but diversity in and of itself, when it is a goal in and of itself, is actually more likely to cause chaos and destruction than it is to enable strength and cohesion.

00:12:24.060 Diversity, without a shared value system, a shared priority that is transcendent of all of our differences, is actually a weakness, not a strength.

00:12:38.300 The reason why diversity within the body of Christ, within the global church, is beautiful, is because we are united by something that transcends all of these external differences.

00:12:52.100 We are united by the gospel.

00:12:54.120 We weigh our value by who God says that we are, and we are citizens primarily of his kingdom.

00:13:02.680 But without that kind of transcendent cohesion and shared belief system, diversity actually can tear institutions and organizations apart.

00:13:14.960 And when you prioritize anything but, in particular, diversity, equity, inclusion, which are really all just euphemisms for discrimination against white men.

00:13:26.380 When you prioritize that over what should be prioritized in every institution, but especially every organization that is saving people's lives, fire department, police department, military, you are going to eventually kill people. 0.91

00:13:47.660 You will lead to death when you sacrifice competence or effectiveness for diversity, you will kill people.

00:13:57.720 I say social justice kills people used to think that was such an extreme thing to say.

00:14:03.700 It's true.

00:14:04.360 Soft on crime policies, soft on drug policies, soft on homelessness policies.

00:14:09.280 All of these policies kill.

00:14:12.840 They lead to death.

00:14:13.840 They lead to chaos.

00:14:15.020 They lead to destruction.

00:14:17.180 When you prioritize DEI over competence, over effectiveness, people will die.

00:14:24.800 But that is exactly the calculation that progressives have made.

00:14:27.820 They think that it is more important to meet these superficial artificial quotas than it is for everyone to reach the necessary standard in order for their institution or organization to actually be good and effective at what they do.

00:14:44.080 And OK, maybe that's a sacrifice you as a private business owner are willing to make if you own an accounting firm.

00:14:51.260 Maybe it's more important to you that you meet these quotas than it is for everyone to be as good as they can be at their job.

00:14:58.460 But when you're using public money, when you are running an organization that means life or death for the people that you're serving, it should be illegal.

00:15:10.620 It should be illegal for you to prioritize these DEI initiatives at all.

00:15:18.340 Diversity should not be a goal within these institutions at all.

00:15:23.920 Competence should.

00:15:24.760 When it comes to military, lethality.

00:15:27.140 End of story. 0.94

00:15:27.980 It doesn't matter if it is all white men. 0.97

00:15:30.320 If it is all white men and your military unit is the most lethal than it can be, then good. 1.00

00:15:36.480 It doesn't matter what the gender is, what the race is. 0.80

00:15:39.640 The most important thing is that you are able to do your job.

00:15:44.760 Your institution is able to work as it should.

00:15:49.840 I said in my ex post, diversity is not a worthy goal in itself.

00:15:54.520 Effectiveness is.

00:15:55.520 When you sacrifice effectiveness for diversity, especially within a fire department, police force or military unit, people will die.

00:16:02.040 I am tired of innocent people's lives being placed on the altar of equity.

00:16:06.280 Enough.

00:16:07.520 Enough.

00:16:07.980 I am also tired of people's lives, of people's livelihoods being placed on the altar of fake environmentalism.

00:16:17.440 I mean, ask the farmers in central California about the Delta smelt.

00:16:22.180 The radical environmentalist groups who bully the politicians in the state of California decided that the Delta smelt, this tiny little fish in the waterways of California, was more important than farmers in central California, which are responsible for a huge amount of food production, being able to properly water their crops.

00:16:45.040 That caused food shortages, that caused food shortages, that caused people's livelihoods to be upended.

00:16:51.220 But because these environmentalist groups cared more about, not even equally, but more about preserving this tiny fish and not disrupting their ecosystem at all, they were willing to sacrifice these farmers and the people who rely on these farmers for food supply.

00:17:11.120 Look, progressivism kills. 0.99

00:17:13.520 It sucks. 1.00

00:17:14.180 It causes chaos. 0.99

00:17:16.560 And that is why, again, one reason we have to care about politics, why all these conversations matter.

00:17:22.400 It's not just, oh, I don't want to get into politics.

00:17:24.260 I don't want to be divisive.

00:17:25.740 Look, when people's lives are on the line and politics are affecting policy, which affects people's lives, Christians have to care because we understand more than anyone else how much a human life matters.

00:17:41.340 So all that to say, I am really praying for California.

00:17:45.500 I'm praying for God's mercy there.

00:17:47.760 And yes, of course, I'm praying for instant reprieve from these fires.

00:17:51.300 But I am also praying for God's mercy to manifest itself in a change of leadership in California.

00:17:56.760 Like when will the people there learn that the people that you're voting for actually hate you and the policies that are being implemented are destructive?

00:18:06.880 Maybe not to the billionaires who can just hop on their private jet and go to their home in Montana for a few weeks, but to everyone who doesn't have the ability to do that.

00:18:16.680 And if you really have the compassion that you say that you do, then maybe you'll reevaluate the worldview that you've adopted that has led you to vote for people who are so incredibly awful at their jobs.

00:18:32.120 All right, let's get into some pop culture stuff.

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00:19:55.720 Okay, let's get into what is going on with Blake Lively and Justin Paldoni.

00:20:06.180 Bree is going to be joining into this conversation because she actually knew a lot about this before I started looking into it.

00:20:14.060 And so I will lean on her to explain a few things.

00:20:17.040 But let me just tell you what is going on.

00:20:19.500 I will try to keep it as concise as possible.

00:20:21.860 I saw yesterday that I did not make it to under an hour on yesterday's episode, which means I have already lost my New Year's resolution to try to keep every episode under an hour in 2025.

00:20:35.440 But my dad said I could blame it on him.

00:20:38.040 I got my yapping honest.

00:20:39.960 And so the apple didn't far, the yapple didn't far, fall far from the tree there.

00:20:45.120 But I will try.

00:20:47.020 I'll try to keep this under an hour.

00:20:48.640 I don't think it's going to happen today.

00:20:49.960 Maybe I can just abandon my resolution altogether.

00:20:52.940 Okay, so this is what's going on.

00:20:55.540 Blake Lively, Justin Paldoni, both actors.

00:20:59.920 I don't, maybe you know Blake Lively from Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, like I do.

00:21:05.480 I think that's the last movie I've seen her in.

00:21:07.600 I don't know.

00:21:08.000 Maybe that was 2004 something.

00:21:11.100 I think that was the perfect role for her.

00:21:13.360 But that's all I really know about Blake Lively's career.

00:21:17.080 Had never heard of Justin Paldoni before all of this.

00:21:20.500 So here's the summary, and then we'll get into the details.

00:21:23.220 And again, I actually think there are significant lessons for us to draw from all of this.

00:21:28.480 Blake Lively is the star of It Ends With Us.

00:21:32.220 This is a movie based on Colleen Hoover's popular novel.

00:21:35.280 And we will link the episode that I did on Colleen Hoover and her books and why I think

00:21:39.900 they're so problematic and why I just think that they make women's brains mush and probably 1.00

00:21:45.720 ruin relationships because they are just smut. 0.97

00:21:50.340 Very easy to read, but complete and total smut. 0.99

00:21:53.860 And at the very least, emotional porn, if not actual porn. 0.96

00:21:58.380 And there's an argument to be made that even while she is condemning domestic violence,

00:22:07.060 she is almost weirdly glorifying it and romanticizing it in some of these books,

00:22:12.600 specifically in It Ends With Us.

00:22:14.520 I did read this book before I knew anything about Colleen Hoover.

00:22:18.900 So that's what this movie is about.

00:22:20.760 And that context is important, that it's about domestic violence.

00:22:24.520 And the title of the movie and book is supposed to be, look, this curse, this horrible sin

00:22:33.300 of domestic violence is supposed to end with the protagonist of this, which is Blake Lively's

00:22:39.600 character.

00:22:40.940 All right.

00:22:41.300 So Blake Lively recently filed a lawsuit against her co-star in the film and the film's director,

00:22:49.480 Justin Baldoni, alleging sexual harassment, among many other things, during the film's production.

00:22:55.500 Baldoni has denied any wrongdoing, has filed a $250 million lawsuit of his own, not against

00:23:04.120 Blake Lively, but against the New York Times for their reporting on the allegations.

00:23:08.740 And his lawyer, big celebrity lawyer, who has represented a lot of very powerful celebrities,

00:23:14.460 Brian Friedman, has threatened to file a lawsuit against Lively.

00:23:17.400 Both parties accused the other of orchestrating smear campaigns to destroy the other's career

00:23:23.980 and reputation.

00:23:25.900 I will say the only thing I really knew about this going into it, besides what the movie was

00:23:33.100 about, was that Blake Lively started, a few months ago, started having videos of her past

00:23:41.880 interviews going around.

00:23:43.060 She didn't have them going around, like she didn't post them herself, but other people,

00:23:48.020 people, I don't know, just anonymous ex-users, TikTok users, started posting these old interviews

00:23:54.600 of Blake Lively where she really comes across as very bratty. 1.00

00:23:59.400 And I was wondering, like, why are people posting this now?

00:24:02.920 Some of these are several years old.

00:24:04.940 Is this orchestrated?

00:24:07.560 And I'm not saying that it was, but I have heard more negative things about Blake Lively

00:24:14.280 in the past few months than I had ever heard before.

00:24:17.580 And I did have my own suspicions back then, again, before all of this drama, that that

00:24:23.280 was actually purposeful.

00:24:25.060 That that bad press was being put out there by someone who had a bone to pick with her.

00:24:30.180 And so maybe that's a rumbling that you have heard, that you have seen too.

00:24:36.180 And if that's all the context that you have, that's fine, because I'm going to fill in the

00:24:39.640 details here.

00:24:41.100 So here, again, are the key players.

00:24:43.240 We got Blake Lively, 37 years old, played Lily Bloom in the film.

00:24:48.020 We've got Justin Baldoni, director of the film, stars as Ryle Kincaid, Lily's abusive partner.

00:24:54.280 We've got Wayfarer Studios, Baldoni's production company, produced It Ends With Us.

00:25:00.180 Jamie Heath, Justin's producing partner and CEO of Wayfarer Studios.

00:25:05.300 Melissa Nathan, Justin's crisis publicist.

00:25:08.720 Leslie Sloan, Blake Lively's publicist.

00:25:13.360 So here's some more background and timeline.

00:25:16.540 It Ends With Us was released on August 9th.

00:25:19.240 It did really well, grossed $351 million.

00:25:22.840 At the time of the movie's release, Baldoni praised Blake Lively as, quote, strong, funny,

00:25:29.300 and intelligent.

00:25:30.220 All the things that you want from a female heroine.

00:25:33.900 And then there were feud rumors that started circulating right around the time of the release

00:25:38.880 of the movie.

00:25:39.800 This is according to the New York Times.

00:25:41.740 There were social media fans who noticed that Baldoni and Lively avoided each other during

00:25:52.220 the film's promotion, that they didn't follow each other on social media.

00:25:56.420 We don't know how internet sleuths find out the things that they do, but they are basically

00:26:02.520 like professional observers of these kinds of things.

00:26:05.760 People who pay very close attention to everything that celebrities are doing.

00:26:11.900 They're always looking for Easter eggs.

00:26:13.420 They're always looking for connections and theories and all of that kind of thing.

00:26:17.020 And so that's what starts sometimes like some kind of viral conversation.

00:26:22.260 These posts started circulating on different social media platforms.

00:26:25.920 Wait, why don't they actually appear in any of the promotion or marketing of the film together?

00:26:33.280 At first, fans believed that Baldoni was not posing for cameras with his co-stars as a

00:26:37.840 marketing tactic because he plays an abusive husband, and so maybe they were afraid that

00:26:43.500 it wouldn't be as believable if they were all buddy-buddy off-camera.

00:26:48.880 However, internet sleuths also noticed that the stars no longer and still don't follow each

00:26:54.540 other on social media, with many of the film's cast following Lively, but not Baldoni.

00:26:59.820 Colleen Hoover also no longer follows Baldoni, and Ryan Reynolds blocked Baldoni months before

00:27:06.720 the film's release.

00:27:08.400 According to texts from Baldoni's team, which we may talk about in just a little bit if we

00:27:13.760 have time, the drama was fueled by reports of conflict during the making of the film,

00:27:18.920 all by anonymous sources from production.

00:27:21.600 Hollywood Reporter reports that there was a fracture among the filmmakers, and the post-production

00:27:26.100 process were two different cuts of the movie emerged.

00:27:29.740 TMZ reported that the problems between them allegedly arose after Blake felt, quote-unquote,

00:27:35.320 fat-shamed, we'll get into that, by Justin on set while they were preparing for a scene

00:27:40.540 that saw him lift her off the ground. 0.88

00:27:43.940 Fans also noticed that Baldoni and Lively did not interact at the premiere for the film.

00:27:48.500 This is from Daily Mail.

00:27:49.640 It ends with us, fans are convinced there's a huge feud between Blake Lively and Justin

00:27:55.020 Baldoni.

00:27:55.580 Here's why.

00:27:56.720 And of course, they were right.

00:27:57.960 And we've got pictures of this.

00:27:59.540 We've got pictures of Blake Lively posing with her husband, Ryan Reynolds, with another co-star.

00:28:07.300 We've got another picture of Blake Lively with another co-star, but did not appear in any

00:28:14.500 pictures with Justin Baldoni.

00:28:16.140 And then there was also, this is a screenshot from the promo video where you've got Blake

00:28:21.360 Lively and three of her co-stars.

00:28:23.540 You do not see Justin Baldoni there, which I think is very strange.

00:28:29.080 All of the interviews that she did, she did not do with him, not only because he is the

00:28:34.420 co-star is this strange that she didn't do any interviews with him, but also because

00:28:38.320 he is the director.

00:28:39.640 You would have thought that they would have, if they had a good relationship, come together

00:28:44.220 and tried to promote the film together, but they really didn't.

00:28:47.840 Around this time, Baldoni hired crisis management and PR professional Melissa Nathan, I guess

00:28:53.080 because of the rumors circulating that, oh, this doesn't look good.

00:28:56.080 Why don't people follow Baldoni?

00:28:57.680 Is he really a bad guy?

00:28:59.060 And he was like, oh, I'm going to get out ahead of this.

00:29:00.880 I'm just surmising here.

00:29:02.000 And I'm going to hire this crisis management publicist, Melissa Nathan.

00:29:06.220 Lots of previous clients, including Johnny Depp during his successful defamation trial

00:29:12.520 against Amber Heard.

00:29:14.380 And just like looking at that, I would say that Melissa Nathan did an effective job because 1.00

00:29:22.520 by the end of that, I think most public opinion was against Amber Heard and in favor of Johnny

00:29:30.040 Depp.

00:29:30.480 Again, I don't know exactly what role she played in the internet's opinions, but I'm

00:29:35.360 sure if she is a stealth publicist, she had quite a significant role in that. 0.96

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00:30:29.300 Also around this time, though, people started criticizing Blake Lively.

00:30:39.160 Lively is known for her upbeat and kind of witty demeanor, very like likable girl next 0.98

00:30:46.120 door.

00:30:47.340 And yet people were saying around the release of this film that Lively seemed extremely

00:30:53.520 tone deaf in her promotion, like very aloof.

00:30:56.840 And a lot of the interviews that I alluded to from the past that people started circulating

00:31:03.060 online, that's how she comes across.

00:31:05.400 She comes across as very aloof.

00:31:07.820 And to be quite honest, she comes across in those interviews, a couple of them we'll play

00:31:12.380 clips from, as extremely self-absorbed.

00:31:15.780 And so that's what people started to say online.

00:31:18.000 She was seen promoting both the movie about domestic violence and, at the same time, her

00:31:24.020 cocktail brand, Betty Buzz at a pop-up shop in Chelsea.

00:31:27.940 The New York Times wrote about this, saying it's a cheery gimmick that seems awkwardly out

00:31:33.040 of step within the context of the film itself, which tells the story of a woman dealing with

00:31:40.120 domestic violence.

00:31:41.820 And you can see this picture right here.

00:31:44.360 So here she is in Chelsea.

00:31:45.560 The reason why people thought that this was problematic is because she is combining her 0.59

00:31:50.740 promotion of her cocktail company with the promotion of the movie.

00:31:56.720 So her company is called Betty Buzz, her cocktail company. 0.79

00:32:02.340 And in the movie, Lily, the character that she plays, owns a flower shop.

00:32:08.220 Her name is Lily Bloom, and so it's a play on that.

00:32:11.060 And so you can see here her, the little cart that she is using to promote both things is 0.99

00:32:16.980 called Betty Blooms.

00:32:18.360 So it's a play all together.

00:32:19.900 And people just thought that that was a strange marketing gimmick, given the gravity of the

00:32:27.060 subject of the movie.

00:32:29.740 I don't know.

00:32:31.040 I'm not, I'm not really sure about that.

00:32:33.540 I'm not sure whether or not that is tone deaf.

00:32:37.740 Maybe so, but I could see the argument of saying, well, it's a movie and it is kind

00:32:44.420 of just like a, I won't call it like a rom-com, but it is, even though it's a serious subject

00:32:52.800 that the book is about, it is marketed as like this light reading for women who don't want 0.99

00:33:00.960 to think very hard as they're reading.

00:33:03.560 Like it's not war and peace.

00:33:05.940 Of course, domestic violence is serious, but that's kind of like Colleen Hoover's thing 1.00

00:33:10.800 is she writes about some serious subjects, but in a way that is very romantic, in a way

00:33:18.060 that is kind of like lighthearted and very easy readism.

00:33:22.740 So I'm not totally sure if Blake Lively is at fault for something like, something like

00:33:30.260 this.

00:33:30.480 I don't know if necessarily it means that she doesn't actually care about domestic violence.

00:33:35.140 Maybe you could argue that for other reasons.

00:33:36.820 I don't know if this is a great example of that.

00:33:40.120 Social media responded when news emerged that Blake's Betty Buzz company had provided

00:33:45.320 Inns With Us themed cocktails for the film's premiere after party, including one called Rile

00:33:51.200 You Wait, named after the character in the film who throws his wife down the stairs.

00:33:58.320 Now, that, I would say, is maybe a little far.

00:34:03.080 Okay, that, I can agree, is weird.

00:34:06.640 That's weird.

00:34:07.500 Like, to, in a funny way, in some kind of like endearing way, name specifically an alcoholic

00:34:15.960 drink, which is known to exacerbate the problem of, so maybe I was wrong.

00:34:21.040 Maybe I was wrong in my whole assessment that I just told you.

00:34:23.620 I don't know.

00:34:24.100 I'm kind of thinking about this as I go.

00:34:26.540 But this puts a finer point on it, to promote alcohol when you are also seemingly kind of glorifying

00:34:36.180 the antagonist abuser in the movie.

00:34:41.380 Yeah.

00:34:42.680 I don't know.

00:34:43.380 It's weird.

00:34:43.860 It does seem like you are trivializing the whole issue.

00:34:48.300 So I'm debating with myself, and you are welcome to give your thoughts in the YouTube comments.

00:34:55.180 There are some comments under the Instagram post where she posted that.

00:34:59.720 Is your company at least making a donation to an organization helping victims of domestic

00:35:03.960 violence, just cute cocktails and marketing?

00:35:07.080 Someone else said, people with alcohol issues are six times more likely to abuse their partners.

00:35:11.260 I think that is a great point that I didn't think about when I first started talking about

00:35:16.160 the whole Betty Buzz, Betty Bloom thing.

00:35:18.580 Promoting a film with such a powerful DV theme, domestic violence theme, with an alcohol brand

00:35:23.600 is disappointed and disrespectful of domestic violence survivors.

00:35:29.560 Yeah, I get that perspective.

00:35:31.200 And I think that is, that's true.

00:35:33.080 That's fair.

00:35:33.920 Another thing that the audience is saying was tone deaf was that the It Ends With Us TikTok

00:35:39.160 page also released a promo where Lively and Colleen Hoover, the author of the books, and

00:35:43.280 grab your friends and wear your florals.

00:35:46.620 Here they are.

00:35:47.260 Is that one?

00:35:48.000 Hello, Blake Lively here.

00:35:49.840 Colleen Hoover.

00:35:50.900 And It Ends With Us is in theaters now.

00:35:53.020 So grab your friends, wear your florals.

00:35:56.820 I don't know.

00:35:57.800 I don't think that that was that bad.

00:36:01.300 Brie, do you disagree with me?

00:36:03.380 I mean, in general, I think people are overreacting a little bit because it's a movie.

00:36:11.700 But yeah, I think it's a tiny bit insensitive because it's not, it's not a rom-com.

00:36:18.280 I see your point that like it's kind of marketed as one.

00:36:20.640 And the book is at least in the sense that like she does fall in love, I guess at the

00:36:25.880 end.

00:36:26.400 I haven't read it, but, but I mean, grab your friends and your florals is a little bit like

00:36:33.560 you're going to watch a rom-com.

00:36:36.120 I don't know.

00:36:37.020 Yeah.

00:36:37.420 I know, I know I heard people go to this movie who did not know what it was about, who thought

00:36:43.600 it was just a rom-com and they got in and were like, oh.

00:36:47.400 Yeah.

00:36:48.220 Yeah.

00:36:48.900 Right.

00:36:49.060 It's not the proposal.

00:36:50.640 No.

00:36:51.200 With Ryan Reynolds, which by the way, like one of my favorite rom-coms makes me laugh

00:36:57.520 out loud.

00:36:58.500 That is a rom-com.

00:37:00.760 Sweet Home Alabama is a rom-com.

00:37:03.380 Yep.

00:37:04.200 This, I guess it's, it's not, it's not a comedy.

00:37:07.640 It's romantic, but it's not funny and lighthearted.

00:37:12.220 But again, I think that is like the, that is Colleen Hoover. 0.97

00:37:17.140 That's her brand. 0.84

00:37:18.220 Like all of her stuff is marketed as kind of light and airy, but a lot of it has to do

00:37:24.920 with really deep and dark issues that aren't presented by the way, always in like, hey,

00:37:30.820 this is really deep and dark.

00:37:32.260 Like you should seek help and certainly not in a gospel centered way, but it is kind of

00:37:37.140 like you fall in love.

00:37:38.780 She wants you to like fall in love and be sexually attracted to the abusive character before you

00:37:43.920 learn that he's abused.

00:37:45.740 Like, and I get that's what a secular author would do, but I think it's problematic in that

00:37:51.200 way.

00:37:51.480 And that's why the marketing is confused because Colleen Hoover is confused. 1.00

00:37:55.980 I will say also, this is her first adaptation.

00:37:59.120 They're adapting a bunch of her books now, but this is the first one.

00:38:01.560 And I think there aren't a lot of other authors, at least popular authors who are doing that

00:38:06.760 exact thing.

00:38:07.700 Not that she's groundbreaking, but just the tone is kind of unique to her.

00:38:11.640 And I think they have now figured out that they can't be marketed like this.

00:38:16.400 Okay.

00:38:16.880 So do you think it was tone deaf or do you think it was purposeful?

00:38:20.780 Like if they like opened up each commercial, like, I don't know, the beginning of Law and

00:38:26.320 Order SVU, people weren't probably going to go.

00:38:30.180 I mean, don't you think they wanted people like you and me to go and they, it could have

00:38:35.120 been more strategic that they also realized that people really just want lighthearted romantic

00:38:39.940 comedies and they wanted people to walk into the theater and not know what it was going

00:38:43.860 to be.

00:38:44.140 Because if they told everyone it was about abuse, they wouldn't go.

00:38:47.520 Yeah.

00:38:47.900 No, I think that's absolutely what it was.

00:38:50.780 I don't, I would say it's still kind of tone deaf because I don't think they expected

00:38:54.760 people to have the backlash.

00:38:57.040 To care.

00:38:57.460 Yeah.

00:38:57.800 Yeah.

00:38:58.020 To care as much as they did.

00:38:59.720 But I agree with you.

00:39:00.840 I think that was the strategy for sure.

00:39:03.000 Yeah.

00:39:03.560 Yeah.

00:39:05.140 Interestingly, it was Baldoni who said, I don't really want to do the whole like rom-com promotion

00:39:12.560 thing now.

00:39:14.400 So he wasn't a part of all of that, the lightheartedness about it, which made him come across like,

00:39:20.280 well, see, I really care about domestic violence, which maybe it was genuine, but also could

00:39:26.040 have been strategic.

00:39:26.740 Well, he is, has claimed that he got the rights to this because he went direct, he read the

00:39:33.000 book.

00:39:33.260 He went directly to Colleen Hoover and said, I have to make this because I care so much

00:39:37.900 about the subject matter.

00:39:38.940 And that's, that's why he ultimately bought the property.

00:39:42.460 And so he has kind of a history of, of making it known that he does care about this.

00:39:46.900 Again, I don't know how genuine it is, but he comes across as being genuine about it.

00:39:52.760 And even in the text exchanges, he calls himself a male feminist.

00:39:55.900 He totally does.

00:39:56.940 Yeah.

00:39:57.460 But in the text exchanges that he released, to be fair, he released to them, they do come

00:40:02.900 across as pretty sincere.

00:40:04.160 He's even talking about when he gets slighted, which I guess we can talk about later by Blake

00:40:09.260 that, um, that he, you know, the thing that really matters is that women are seeing this

00:40:14.880 and can see themselves in this movie.

00:40:16.900 So, uh, you know, I don't know.

00:40:19.080 He comes across as sincere, I will say.

00:40:21.700 And, and maybe he is, we just have no, the thing is we don't know who is being sincere

00:40:26.120 and earnest and who is just being strategic and cynical.

00:40:29.840 And maybe it's a combination of both on both sides.

00:40:33.140 It typically is something like that.

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00:41:29.500 All right, that concludes today's episode.

00:41:36.620 It's all we have time for.

00:41:38.660 And so tomorrow we will be back with part two with so much more on this.

00:41:44.020 You don't want to miss it.

00:41:45.440 See you then.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - January 08, 2025

Ep 1119 ｜ Is Blake Lively a Mean Girl？ Justin Baldoni Drama Explained (Part One)

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