The machinations of the PR machine that the Blake Lively/Justin Baldoni scandal has unleashed have been eye-opening, particularly for me. When I say that I do not deal with PR people, I mean: I don’t even read their emails. I do not do screeners. I do not attend critics’ screenings or belong to any critics’ organization. I do not engage with that world whatsoever. I see too easily how they shape narratives—at this point, there are six times more publicists in America than journalists. Journalists report facts. Publicists shape narratives. And I don’t want anything to do with it.
That said, I can see how PR shapes our world, and I understand and can discern some astroturfing on Reddit, Faux Moi, or social media. But the Baldoni/Lively situation goes way beyond that, and even today, we are learning more, thanks to what Matt Belloni over on Puck has pieced together.
Let’s start with what we know to be true: There was a legitimate HR problem on the set of It Ends With Us. Justin Baldoni and his producer reportedly engaged in seriously inappropriate behavior that made Blake Lively feel uncomfortable in the workplace. Lively went through the HR process and resolved that situation. I’m sure that working with Baldoni wasn’t enjoyable, and I’m sure she despised being around him, but she worked through the HR process to ensure she could at least finish the project, like so many women in the workplace are unfortunately forced to do just to make a living.
I daresay that could’ve been the end of this. Beyond the fact that Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively stopped following Baldoni on social media, it doesn’t appear that Lively was interested in escalating the situation. But here is where it gets complicated.
Justin Baldoni hired a PR crisis firm, Jonesworks, to “bury” Blake Lively. Jonesworks is owned by Stephanie Jones, who is married to Jason Hodes, an agent at WME — the same firm that represents Lively and Ryan Reynolds. Jonesworks also represented Lively and Reynolds at one point, though not during the smear campaign orchestrated by Baldoni.
The campaign itself was orchestrated by Jonesworks’ publicist Jen Abel and independent publicist Melissa Nathan — the latter being the one who defended Johnny Depp (Nathan’s sister also writes for Page Six at the NYPost, which has laundered a lot of these stories). However, while the smear campaign was ongoing, Abel left Jonesworks to work independently. This infuriated Stephanie Jones, who reportedly confiscated Abel’s work phone as part of the split.
All the texts cited in the suit brought by Lively against Baldoni appear to come from Stephanie Jones. This is where it gets really gross. Jones is reportedly vindictive as hell, and she essentially handed Lively’s team the ammunition they needed to file suit against Abel and Nathan, even though Abel originally worked for Jones, whose company launched the smear campaign in the first place. And after Lively filed the legal complaint, WME — the agency that also represents Lively and Reynolds and employs Stephanie Jones’ husband — immediately dropped Baldoni (though it has had little problem representing other unsavory figures, like Dana White).
Moreover, Stephanie Jones — again, the owner of the PR firm that originally launched the smear campaign — has also sued Baldoni. At this point, Lively and Baldoni are the faces of this, but it’s also very much a dispute between Stephanie Jones and her former employee, Jen Abel.
It’s also worth noting that Stephanie Jones used to represent Dwayne Johnson back when everyone loved him. After Johnson left Jonesworks, negative stories about him began surfacing. It’s not that Johnson wasn’t always difficult—showing up late to set or urinating in bottles — but Stephanie Jones reportedly kept a lid on it. After he left, she stopped keeping that lid on.
All of which is to say: It’s not just that publicists shape narratives — they’re the wizards behind the curtain. Even the careers of Lively, Baldoni, and Dwayne Johnson, to an extent, are being shaped by these wizards, who are the absolute last people anyone should cross.
Also, be careful about who you trust!
Background: Puck, Page Six