Here’s the hypothetical: A young, attractive woman claims that a criminal victimized her. The police investigate her allegations, deem them credible, and arrest the suspect. A court date is set.
Now, imagine if the suspect fought back by hiring private investigators to pilfer through the woman’s personal life, implemented a PR campaign to diminish her credibility, and tried to dismantle her “truth” via legal, media, and financial pressures.
The public would be outraged! Why, you’ve victimized this poor woman twice! Have you no shame?
Of course, the above scenario happens every single day in America. It’s standard legal protocol for many criminal defense cases. Because of the sheer volume of lawyers, criminals, and victims, the process has been normalized.
Mostly, at least.
And this brings us to the curious kerfuffle between Hollywood starlet Blake Lively — the “victim” — and actor/director Justin Baldoni. People Magazine offered a summary, but for the uninitiated, Blake Lively is a beautiful, talented actress. She’s a legit A-lister and one-half of a leading Tinsel Town power couple, along with her hubby, “Deadpool” star Ryan Reynolds.
Justin Baldoni is a handsome actor who’s also a director. In addition to his acting chops, he’s also built his brand on being a male feminist. He even wore a man-bun (yuck). He did podcasts, lectures, and Ted Talks to atone for his toxic masculinity: “I believe that as men, it’s time to see past our privilege and recognize that we are not just part of the problem. Fellas, we are the problem.”
Well, according to Blake Lively’s complaint, “we” aren’t the problem; “he” is the problem: Lively contends that Baldoni barged into her trailer when she was disrobed, made wildly inappropriate comments about his genitalia and sex life, criticized her body and weight, and was basically a creep. So she complained to Baldoni’s production company and asked for an intimacy coordinator (among other reasonable concessions).
And to Baldoni’s credit, he agreed to all of them. But here’s where things turned dark and disturbing: Lively contends that Baldoni’s PR team retaliated against her, damaged her reputation, hurt her financially, manipulated social media, and turned the public against her. (Baldoni denies these allegations and promises to respond legally.)
I don’t know what happened on the set. We can certainly envision a scenario where Lively was indeed mistreated, maligned, and abused. If so, that’s awful.
But we can also envision a scenario where Lively — a coddled, privileged, wealthy starlet — threw her weight around and threatened to bury Baldoni’s career. If so, it’s understandable why Baldoni would seek preemptive PR assistance.
If you’re gonna be fed to the Hollywood Scandal Machine, you better have a great lawyer AND a great publicist. You need both. And part of a publicist’s job is to anticipate reputational threats, extinguish fires, and preemptively “seed” media outlets to generate favorable coverage.
Lively’s attorneys, it seems, uncovered (via subpoena) a treasure trove of deeply damaging texts from Baldoni’s PR team, including messages like, “We can bury everyone.” And when The Daily Mail ran the story, “Is Blake Lively Set to Be CANCELED?” an internal message allegedly said, “You really outdid yourself with this piece.”
When you’re a publicist, being subpoenaed is an unnerving experience. (In certain crisis communications situations, PR agents CC the client’s attorney to keep their work legally protected. It’s unclear if Baldoni’s PR team heeded this protocol.) It’s discombobulating, because most of the time, you’re worried about a journalist burning your client. But when lawyers seize your emails, texts, and communications, you worry about burning the journalists you work with. It’s a real fear because a PR pro who isn’t trusted by the media is of little value.
I’ve only been subpoenaed once: The Obama administration demanded I turn over all my texts and emails when I repped a client in the Gen. David Petraeus CIA scandal. (The subpoena explicitly required that I turn over off-the-record communications as well.) Fortunately, Obama’s attorneys didn't leak any of my messages because they included jokes, quips, and dopey puns between me and conservative media members. They were meant to be goofy and lighthearted, but, taken out of context, they could’ve cost my friends their jobs.
It was my wake-up call: DO NOT put anything in print (even if it’s funny!) that you’d regret seeing published.
That’s because the PR process is similar to the legal process. They all involve preemptive planning, tough talk, aggressive tactics, reputational management, bravado, sharp elbows, and more. The only difference is that Hollywood movies and TV shows like “Suits” and "LA Law” have normalized legal work. PR is more foreign.
But the tactics are consistent.
That’s why I fully expect Justin Baldoni to make a move to the conservative camp during the first half of 2025. The same left-leaning, man-bun-wearing Soy Boy who built his brand by excoriating “toxic masculinity” will be a Johnny Come Lately to conservatism.
He has to.
Blake Lively is bigger than he is. She’s more important. And her PR team already planted its flag, turning this into a #MeToo moment that pitted a plucky, beautiful starlet against a vile, loathsome male chauvinist pig.
Baldoni could try to regain his feminist turf, but it probably won’t work. Lively’s team had its ducks lined up in a row; it has the first-mover advantage. He’s now perceived as a fraud — someone pretending to be something different than what he actually is — and if you’re an actor, you’re especially susceptible to those sorts of allegations.
Acting, after all, is all about pretending to be someone different.
So his best PR move is to stake an ownership claim elsewhere. He needs PR allies, and they’re not going to come from the left-leaning mainstream media anymore. It’s something crypto-fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried considered when his liberal world began to collapse: “Go on Tucker Carlsen [sic], come out as a republican,” he wrote to himself.
And Sam Bankman-Fried was literally the Democrats’ second biggest donor!
PR is mostly about trajectory: Your messaging is either working or it’s not. Baldoni’s current trajectory is unsustainable. Barring a blockbuster court filing that dramatically reconfigures public sentiment, his career as a mainstream actor-director is over.
Unless he switches sides.
Of course, he won’t actually mean it. Baldoni’s newfound conversion to conservatism will be purely performative: He’s just playing a different part.
That’s what actors do.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member