Blake Lively vs. Justin Baldoni: Video should clear things up

The confusion is likely to be complete after Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have been hurling accusations at each other for weeks. Both have filed lawsuits, both believe they are in the right. Lively accuses the actor and director of sexually harassing her during the filming of It Ends With Us. He, in turn, says Lively wanted to take control of the film and is not telling the truth. Only two aspects of their complaints, in fact there are significantly more allegations.

Now Baldoni’s team has released a video that, in his opinion, should clarify. It shows the entire footage of a scene from the film including camera and stage directions. The soundtrack is also authentic from the filming. In the film, Lively and Baldoni play the main characters Lily and Ryle, who fall in love but whose relationship ends toxically. Ryle becomes violent towards Lily. In the scene, Lively and Baldoni dance together, their characters are just getting to know each other, and the attraction is obvious.

Because the scene in the film is accompanied by music and shows the two of them in slow motion, Lively and Baldoni start chatting. They dance, flirt, talk about their respective partners, Ryan Reynolds and Emily Baldoni. Lively keeps saying it’s good when they talk, it makes it look better in the film. In addition, Baldoni shouldn’t kiss her, the scene is ultimately about attraction, the audience would want a kiss but wouldn’t get it. Baldoni kisses Lively on the neck and tells her she smells good. She says her self-tanner definitely stinks.

But Baldoni’s attempt to create clarity with the video seems to have failed. Immediately after publication, Lively’s lawyers spoke out. “The video shows Mr. Baldoni repeatedly leaning down toward Ms. Lively, attempting to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face and mouth on her neck, caressing her lips with his thumb, caressing her, telling her how good she smells and talks to her outside of her character,” said Lively’s team. The actress repeatedly emphasized that the characters in the film should talk to each other, not touch each other.

“Any woman who has ever been touched inappropriately in the workplace will recognize Ms. Lively’s discomfort. You will recognize her attempts to deflect the unwanted touches with ease,” the actress said.

The published video is causing lively discussions online. Some say that they look at Lively and that she doesn’t like being touched. Others note that Baldoni was the director of the film and was just doing his job.