Why Is Blake Lively Suing Her 'It Ends With Us' Co-Star, Justin Baldoni?

When bringing Colleen Hoover's controversial book It Ends With Us to movie audiences in an on-screen adaptation, the film was already facing strong headwinds amid multiple controversies. But even once the film was released, the drama surrounding the movie didn't stop. If anything, it got bigger.

During August press tour events, fans noted that co-stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni weren't appearing together, and few of the movie's cast and crew were following Justin on social media.

Then shortly after the movie's Aug. 9, 2024, release date, fans began criticizing Blake for rude and passive-aggressive comments she's made in the past.

But none of that could have prepared fans for what came next, with Blake accusing Justin of sexually harassing her and filing a lawsuit against him. So what on earth happened? Here's why Blake Lively is suing Justin Baldoni, and why it relates to a term called "astroturfing."

According to documents obtained by The New York Times, the lawsuit accuses Justin of both sexual harassment and trying to destroy her reputation through a process known as astroturfing.

Some details about what Justin did are being kept under wraps, although the lawsuit does detail some specific incidents. At one point, the lawsuit alleges, Blake attempted to address her concerns with the production team and gave them a list of demands around Justin's behavior to smooth things over.

Those demands included:

• No mention of Justin’s alleged "pornography addiction"
• No displaying nude content to Blake
• No discussions of cast and crew's genitalia
• No more questions regarding Blake's weight, or discussions of her deceased father
• No more talking about "sexual conquests" while in Blake’s presence.
• No more sex or intimate scenes with Blake to be filmed "outside the scope of the script [Blake] approved when signing onto the project."

The lawsuit alleges that Justin both sexually harassed her and then tried to ruin her reputation through astroturfing.

Astroturfing is where someone will essentially run an information campaign to redirect attention and steer public opinion.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines astroturfing as, "organized activity that is intended to create a false impression of a widespread, spontaneously arising, grassroots movement in support of or in opposition to something (such as a political policy) but that is in reality initiated and controlled by a concealed group or organization (such as a corporation)."

In this case, Blake is alleging that the bad press about her that followed the movie's release is the result of a concerted effort on the part of Justin and his team to smear her reputation while making it seem like she was being publicly canceled due to past behavior.

The suit suggests that Justin weaponized his fans against Blake by carefully planting outrageous tidbits of information and then manufacturing an apparent public response to them.

The case is an interesting one, and poses the question: How do we know what's true? Did Justin preemptively smear Blake's reputation to try to discredit her because he knew allegations were coming, or is Blake accusing him of extraordinary feats of public manipulation in order to give her allegations more substance?

For his part, Justin's team has dismissed the allegations as “categorically false.” It'll certainly be interesting to see how the case plays out in the coming weeks and months.