This article contains discussion of sexual harassment.
The suit — as well as a New York Times story reporting on the alleged details behind it — describes a litany of allegations against Justin and It Ends with Us producer Jamey Heath, including a claim that Justin hired a crisis PR firm to wage a “social manipulation” campaign to “destroy” her reputation. You can read a very detailed rundown of the allegations right here.
One of the many claims in the suit is the allegation that Justin paid a crisis PR firm to conduct a digital smear campaign against Blake to try and damage her reputation and career.
So, you might remember back in August, when — in the midst of rumors surrounding the fraught production cycle of It Ends with Us — Norwegian journalist Kjersti Flaa shared a 2016 interview with Blake on YouTube with the title “The Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job.”
View this video on YouTube
Kjersti Flaa / Via youtube.com
In the interview clip, Blake responded mockingly after Kjersti complimented her “little bump,” and there seemed to be some hostility between Blake, Parker Posey, and Kjersti after a line of questioning around the film they were promoting, Café Society.
So, in the NYT article that was published yesterday, Kjersti’s interview was referenced with the insinuation that she had shared it as part of the alleged public digital smear campaign that Baldoni and the crisis PR firm he hired has been accused of running.
As people with YouTube channels are oft to do, Kjersti posted two response videos — one on Threads, and the other on YouTube — to the NYT’s accusations, insisting she was not a part of the alleged smear campaign.
View this video on YouTube
Kjersti Flaa / Via youtube.com
“Okay, so I have to say something because now I see that things are starting to snowball and people start thinking that I had anything to do with the smear campaign against Blake Lively that was orchestrated allegedly by Justin Baldoni and his team,” she said.
“I also read the article in the New York Times this morning. I’ve been reading through the lawsuit and I see there’s been so much dirty work going on behind-the-scenes. I just wanted to say I had nothing to do with it. When I read the text messages that was going back and forth between Justin Baldoni‘s PR team, I was as shocked and appalled, like everybody else.”
“I would never take part in anything like that,” Kjersti added. “That’s such an insult to me.”
Head here to read more about Blake’s lawsuit.