From the beginning, it seemed like all major publications were in complete support of Lively. If everyone everywhere relied on their reporting to form an opinion, I think we would support Lively without question and Justin Baldoni would be just another villain in a woman's work-place horror story.

But fortunately for him, that is not the world we live in and he did the best thing he could have done with that knowledge: he brought his case and his evidence to us.

I just read and article the The Hollywood Reporter ("THR") and saw this video from Entertainment Tonight ("ET").

Both still favor Lively but they are more subtle about it.

THR claims that they are not painting both plaintiffs in the same brush and yet that's exactly what they do.

Lively comes across like somebody who would order the launch of nuclear warheads over not getting a booth at a restaurant. Whereas Baldoni seems like somebody who would burst into tears when his Tinder date fails to praise his unsolicited dick pic.

See how they subtly imply that Baldoni's misdemeanor is sexual in nature but Lively's has nothing to do with her taking his movie?

Making any judgements about the actual validity of their complaints is the height of foolishness right now, with so much legal process runway still ahead.

Is it? Is it foolish to make judgments when one side has brought an overwhelming amount of evidence to support their claims while the other basically says "just trust me, bro".

Online sentiment — the documented obsession of both plaintiffs — has been a swinging pendulum. 

No it has not. Lively very briefly garnered support when the NYT released their article (21 Dec 2024). Ten days later (31 Dec 2024) Baldoni filed his lawsuit against Lively and by and large, the public has been on his side ever since. What swinging pendulum are you talking about?

The article then draws comparison between Justin's lawsuits and Johnny Depp. I see the comparison but the article undermines itself yet again by calling Heard a "bully" and not an "abuser":

In recent weeks, it swung towards Baldoni for possibly one of the same reasons it favored Johnny Depp over Amber Heard in their 2022 defamation suit courtroom clash. The filings portrayed him as a super sensitive creature while the latter came across, fairly or no, like a bully. A man accused of workplace sexual harassment, it seems, doesn’t trigger the socials quite as much as a woman accused of being a mean girl.  

Do you see what this article is doing? It's making it out to seem like the public reaction to the Johnny Depp trial was due to misogyny and not because one party was glaringly guilty. It is implying the same thing is happening with this trial.

There have been many beats of unintended humor. Lively allegedly enlisted Reynolds and Taylor Swift to help squad-pressure Baldoni to agree to a scene rewrite while threateningly comparing herself to Daenerys Targaryen (except Emilia Clarke took direction). While some of Lively’s complaints to Wayfarer and Sony include accusing Baldoni of sage-purifying Lively’s employees, sobbing over unflattering paparazzi photos of her, and claiming to psychically speak to her dead father.

They make a joke of Justin being intimidated into accepting the scene re-write and they also poke fun at his emotional nature and his spirituality.

One wonders if there is a case, on either side, for doing the unthinkable: Either settling, or pulling their respective lawsuits. Because mutually assured destruction has already occurred. 

I believe this is a call to Baldoni to settle the case. Otherwise why include this directly after:

There is no criminal complaint, so nobody is at risk of jail time. Both sides are shelling out hefty fees in legal representation for perhaps long-shot paydays. The reason each side keeps going is to punish their respective arch nemesis and salvage their reputations.

It's like they are reminding Baldoni through the article that there is no real blood in the water yet but also claiming that while Baldoni can destroy them, they can in turn, destroy him right back.

Let me explain why I think so. At the very beginning they compare Baldoni to Kendall Roy:

“We need to the control the narrative,” famously declared Kendall Roy in HBO’s Succession.
Across four seasons, the neurotic “eldest boy” of the Roy clan anxiously struggled for power; scheming and manipulating, only to watch one convoluted effort to conquer his father’s company Waystar fall apart, while Kendall’s reputation collapsed.
The Blake Lively  vs. Justin Baldoni feud over their time making It Ends With Us — which swaps out the fictional Waystar for Baldoni’s real-life production company Wayfarer — is a Hollywood drama where every character looks increasingly like Kendall Roy.

And coming closer to end, they say this what it says:

We equate surrender with defeat, but as Oprah Winfrey once put it: “In surrender, you realize you’re not in control, and that’s the most powerful position you can be in.” It’s a lesson Kendall Roy never learned. There’s something to be said for getting out from behind lawyers and publicists and strategists and telling the public: I told the truth. I also wish I handled things better. I don’t want to continue fighting a toxic person. I’m going to trust that I will eventually be vindicated. The real race here isn’t legal, after all, but the one to look like a non-nightmare grown up and to protect their future business endeavors. 

The message is clear: come out from behind your lawyers, admit fault and you may yet have a career.

They mean to tell him that while he might think he's controlling the narrative, settle the case or lose all your money in legal fees:

In truth, each has more in common than they might realize: They’re both being used. Their lawyers get money and publicity. The media gets content. Readers and fans get the latest tea so they can judge and debate. Everyone is insatiable for more. Nobody wants this season of Feud: Lively vs. Baldoni to have its finale anytime soon.

Suddenly everyone besides Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are at fault. The lawyers are at fault for doing the job they were hired to do. The media is at fault for reporting it and public is at fault for showing interest in the case.

I don't understand how anyone could read this article and not see it as a threat to Justin Baldoni.

The same thing happens in the ET video. Just a bunch of blatant misdirection in Blake Lively's favor and a call from a legal expert to "settle the matter."

Before this article and this video, I was firmly on the side of Justin doing what was best for him. I didn't care if that meant he would settle the case or go to trial but I after the video and article, I'm angry that they seem to send him these warnings of "settle or else" because how dare they? After everything? How about I don't know, you issue a public apology since it was you who brought this matter to the public?

I am so disgusted and it is clear that Blake and her team are sweating. I hope Justin continues to make them sweat and if he must settle?

Wring every cent out of them that he possibly can!