Blake Lively has called out a magazine cover for its "sexist" depiction of her legal battle with Justin Baldoni.
The legal battle between the It Ends with Us stars has been making headlines for the past few months with numerous allegations and complaints filed from both sides.
Blake Lively Reacts to Cover of Legal Battle with Justin Baldoni
The Hollywood Reporter recently released the cover for their February 21 story titled "Blake vs. Baldoni: An Exclusive Look Behind the Battle Lines of Hollywood’s Uncivil War."
The cover illustration shows Lively appearing to aim a slingshot armed with a mobile phone against Baldoni, who is holding a copy of the It Ends with Us book.
However, Lively was not pleased with how she was depicted on the cover and issued a statement calling out the image.
"The Hollywood Reporter should be ashamed of itself," the actress's rep said. "The framing in this picture is outrageously insulting as it plays into every sexist trope about women who dare file a workplace complaint, turning them into the aggressor, and suggesting they deserve the retaliation that comes their way."
Lively's rep added that "the story is extremely offensive as it incredibly seems to explain away documented examples of sexual harassment and retaliation by calling them 'cultural misunderstandings.'"
The Hollywood Reporter wrote in their story that the Lively-Baldoni legal battle "has been framed as the newest chapter in Hollywood’s ongoing fight for gender equality" and raised "another possibility, one that has less to do with gender equality than it does a simple cultural misunderstanding."
They noted that they "interviewed multiple friends and former colleagues of Baldoni, along with members of the Baha’i community, to piece together if and how this religion might have inadvertently contributed to the situation."
So far, The Hollywood Reporter has not released a statement on Lively's reaction to their cover.
The Latest Update on Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's Legal Battle
Last February 19, Lively's legal team filed an amended complaint in which she alleged that she "was not alone in complaining about Mr. Baldoni."
She also claimed that her and the others' alleged experiences "were documented at the time they occurred, starting in May of 2023" and Baldoni "acknowledged the complaints in writing at the time."
Lively and Ryan Reynolds' publicist Leslie Sloane have also filed a motion to dismiss Baldoni's countersuit against her.
Sloane's lawyer claimed there's no "basis" for such accusations and that the publicist was "dragged" into the legal battle as a "smoke and mirrors exercise to distract from" Lively's accusations against Baldoni.
What did you think of Lively's statement on the cover? Let us know in the comments!
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