Megyn Kelly isn’t the obvious candidate to land a scoop a couple of Hollywood feud. But in January the right-leaning firebrand was joined on her SiriusXM program by Justin Baldoni’s lead lawyer, Bryan Freedman. Kelly debuted a voice message from Baldoni to his “dream team” modifying the film during which he described being, in Kelly’s sympathetic paraphrasing, “put in the basement on the premiere of his own movie” to fulfill the alleged calls for of his It Ends With Us costar, Blake Lively. Freedman then made a complete case for his shopper for just below 10 minutes. The YouTube clip alone handed 1 million views. Hollywood trades picked up the story. And Freedman continued on his aggressive media tour.
Baldoni’s voice memo was a part of the trouble to melt his picture. The director and star of It Ends With Us entered 2025 having simply been sued by Lively for making a hostile work atmosphere, with particular allegations together with sexual harassment. Baldoni known as Lively’s claims “completely false,” filed a $400 million countersuit in opposition to Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and launched extra (selective) correspondence. Meanwhile, Freedman has depicted Lively as a waking Hollywood nightmare.
The ugly back-and-forth bought play nearly in every single place after The New York Times reported the information of Lively’s go well with, however right-wing media actually milked the narrative. For weeks, Kelly weighed in on seemingly any replace that mirrored properly on Baldoni. (She has additionally been represented by Freedman.) The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro requested if Lively would ever get better. Candace Owens mentioned the battle on her on-line present almost on daily basis, casting Lively’s distress as revenge for #MeToo.
Right-wing speaking heads love tales about liberal hypocrisy, and Hollywood is a good looking floor. Coverage of the Lively-Baldoni affair, in truth, has resembled one other grim case contested as a lot within the courtroom of public opinion because the courtroom of regulation: Depp v. Heard. Johnny Depp was awarded greater than $10 million in damages from Amber Heard after a jury discovered her references in a Washington Post op-ed to “sexual violence” and “domestic abuse” to be false and defamatory of Depp. You can guess which aspect of the political aisle cheered this verdict with essentially the most enthusiasm. (Heard gained one in every of her three countersuit claims and was awarded $2 million in damages.)
During the trial, you would inform the general public was largely Team Depp, as gleefully sexist memes mocking Heard proliferated on TikTok and YouTube. The marketing campaign was facilitated by Depp’s refined crisis-PR operation—the identical agency, notably, that Baldoni employed—and additional boosted by the Republican Party. The House Judiciary GOP’s official Twitter account applauded the information of Depp’s courtroom win. Donald Trump Jr. posted, “Believe all women…except Amber Heard.” The case introduced the possibility for a sweeping, collective #MeToo backlash, abruptly reversing a five-year development of highly effective males dealing with penalties. Who cares if Depp as soon as joked about assassinating Trump? At least he’s a person.
Unlike Heard, Lively has a well-known and rich husband in Reynolds, and the proper wing’s narrative now’s that the Hollywood machine will stomp throughout justice within the curiosity of feminism. They’re clearly pondering that if the vilification of empathy might help elect a president, it may possibly definitely enhance scores and clicks. Early this yr Kelly gave her viewers an replace. “Poor little meek, powerless Blake had to deal with [Justin’s] aggressive advances—that’s just so obviously a lie at this point,” she stated. “She’s made herself into Amber Heard.” And the conservative media did every little thing they might to assist.