The Blake Lively smear campaign exposes sordid level of public manipulation | Opinion

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It appears that the plot of "It Ends with Us" − the summer blockbuster about a woman escaping an abusive dynamic − might have played out in real life between the stars of the movie.

Blake Lively, who played Lily Bloom in the film, has sued fellow actor Justin Baldoni, who played her love interest Ryle Kincaid. In the lawsuit, Lively alleges that Baldoni sexually harassed her during filming, then launched a sophisticated smear campaign to cover it up.

If true, this story serves two painful reminders for entertainers, politicians and regular folks alike: Abusers are insidious, entitled and aggressive. And they're no respecter of status, gender or industry.

With the entertainment industry, like in the world of politics, we are constantly told what to think about the personalities involved. And the professionals hired to promote carefully constructed narratives are so good at it, we often don't realize we're being manipulated.

Lively's lawsuit claims she was victim of online retaliation

Lively's 80-page lawsuit is stunning. According to the complaint, Lively and female crew members had experienced a string of uncomfortable situations with Baldoni while filming the movie. So a meeting was called that included Lively, her husband ‒ actor Ryan Reynolds, Baldoni, the film's producers and studio executives.

Lively demanded that Baldoni stop a list of unacceptable behaviors, including entering her trailer while she was nude, improvising kissing scenes, making sexual comments and touching her. Baldoni agreed not to violate the terms.

When the film was released, Lively helped to market it following an agreed-upon plan She avoided talking about the movie in a sad or heavy manner, but instead portrayed it as a story of hope.

This is where things got dicey for the news media and moviegoers like myself.

"What the public also did not know was that this was the beginning of a multi-tiered plan that Mr. Baldoni and his team described as 'social manipulation' designed to 'destroy' Ms. Lively's reputation," the complaint says.

The lawsuit claims that Baldoni, his business partner and their production company paid for a "sophisticated press and digital plan" designed to retaliate against Lively for "exercising her legally-protected right to speak up about their misconduct on the set."

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The plan included a manipulation tactic on social media known as "astroturfing." It involves planting opinions and comments that appear to come from ordinary members of the public but are in fact manufactured to push an agenda.

If the allegations in the lawsuit prove to be true, it's nauseating to think that Lively experienced not only harassment on the job but then also a sordid campaign to smear her reputation.

And it would be utterly damning for Baldoni. No one should harness such abusive power and coercive control as payback against a woman who advocated for herself.

Did I fall prey to astroturfing too?

And if the lawsuit's allegations are true, I also fell victim to the smear campaign's manipulations.

I saw the film in August and wrote a column discussing why I thought it was a good opportunity to discuss domestic violence and the cycle of abuse, especially why and how women are sucked into an abusive dynamic.

The movie isn't entirely accurate in how it portrays abuse, but what I really took issue with was exactly what this complaint targets: I was disappointed that when Lively discussed the film during press events, she seemed to offer bland platitudes to survivors.

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At the movie's premiere, a reporter asked Lively what message she had for survivors who see the film.

"Not to minimize it in any way, but you are so much more than just a survivor or just a victim," she said. "While that is a huge thing, you are a person of multitudes. What someone has done to you doesn't define you. You define you."

I wrote that it was a nice truism but underwhelming for survivors of abuse.

Yet, according to the lawsuit, Lively was dutifully following the marketing plan for the movie. And the frustration and disappointment that I and others felt toward Lively were exactly the emotions that Baldoni and his team wanted us to feel.

At the same time, old interviews featuring Lively seemed to pop up out of nowhere reminding audiences that she had appeared to be rude or even mean while soaking in the spotlight. I liked Lively as an actor well enough before this film, but I admit, her bland comments about domestic violence and the old interviews left a bad taste with me for another woman and a fellow mother of four.

But again, that reaction could be exactly what Baldoni wanted.

Yet, it's also crossed my mind that with so much manipulation on social media and in the legacy news media, we all might be being played again by this lawsuit.

After all, Lively is a more famous and more powerful star than Baldoni. And her husband is not only one of the biggest names in Hollywood, but Reynolds also can leverage a substantial net worth built on savvy business deals.

Even so, details in the lawsuit, including damning text messages, seem to give Lively's case substantial credibility.

We're being told what to think 24/7

Manipulation by the media isn't new, of course. The 1939 classic "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," is about a political machine smearing, with the help of friendly journalists, an innocent trying to stand up against corruption.

People in power can be cruel and abusive no matter the year or the tools at their disposal. But using the media to attack a person's reputation has risen to a whole new level of subterfuge and sophistication in the digital age.

It's true not just in Hollywood, of course. The true masters of public manipulation tend to work in Washington, D.C.

And we, the public, often don't wise up to the manipulation until it's too late.

Case in point: Americans were told President Joe Biden was vibrant and healthy, until the truth could no longer be denied after the first presidential debate in June. Then, we were told that Biden had to step aside, for the sake of democracy, so that Vice President Kamala Harris could run instead. She became the Democratic nominee without earning a single vote in the Democratic primaries.

Just how much public manipulation do you think was involved in that sequence of events?

From Washington to Hollywood, the gaslighting never seems to end. The digital era has delivered a new array of tools by which people in power manipulate our soft hearts, deepest regrets, biggest dreams and secret fantasies. They not only tell us what to think but also trick us into believing that we thought of it ourselves.

It will go on until we wise up to it enough not to share that gossipy social media post or that catty news story. It may be a bit cliché, but it's also true: It only ends with us.

Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with Paste BN. She lives in Texas with her four kids. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Track, and get it delivered to your inbox.