‘I have nothing to do with it:’ The interviewer from that viral Blake Lively video has spoken out
Blake Lively is hitting back after filing a legal complaint against former It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni and lead producer Jamey Heath. Now, as evidence has been brought to light and the tides begin to turn, certain individuals are trying to distance themselves from the drama.
A recent New York Times article has turned this year’s Hollywood drama surrounding the adaption of Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us on its head. The article lays out evidence that alleges that Baldoni and Heath orchestrated a smear campaign against the actress to discredit anything she might have to say about their on-set conduct. During this period of time, Lively was on the receiving end of a lot of hate for her tone-deaf publicity stunts to her lack of acknowledgment surrounding the film’s themes of domestic abuse. Though some of those things may still be true – she did try to promote her brands in the lead-up to the movie – the wizard behind the curtain pulling the strings of her public perception appears to have been revealed.
Those who piled on Lively during this time are starting to question their role in this apparent takedown. Blake Lively has been trending on X as people try to untangle this web. With the released evidence, some now take Lively’s side, seeing her as a victim in all this. Others point out that, whilst what has happened to her is awful, her actions during promotion were still tone-deaf. And then some are still staunchly behind Baldoni, a male figure they adore for his presentation as the “antithesis of toxic masculinity.”
‘I have nothing to do with it’
One person who is trying to mitigate these new choppy waters is interviewer Kjersti Flaa, who reposted a 2016 interview titled “The Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job.” The video went viral at the time Lively was receiving the most heat, only adding to the fire and contributing to the negative image of the actress. We will say this, it was an uncomfortable to watch interview. With the release of the NYT article, Flaa has posted once again saying:
“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 Baldonin and his team.”
She goes on to discuss how she read the article and the lawsuit and acknowledges that there was “so much dirty work going on behind the scenes… I have nothing to do with it.” She goes on to say, “I was just as shocked and appalled as everyone else, and I would never take part in anything like that, that’s such an insult to me.”
Even if she did have nothing to do with it, she did actively jump on the ‘let’s slam Blake Lively train’ by posting that video. Of course, Flaa did that based on the context at the time, but now that context has changed, the optics aren’t great. It also doesn’t help that she has done a similar thing in another smear campaign organized by the exact same crisis management expert, Melissa Nathan. During the Amber Heard/Johnny Depp scandal, with Nathan retained by Depp, Flaa posted clips of her interviews with Depp with the tag #JusticeForJohnnyDepp.
This may be a coincidence, Flaa is, after all, a journalist working in the entertainment industry. Her job is to report on and be at the cutting edge of entertainment news. Flaa has simply done what many others in her field have done, but capitalizing on fanning the flames of online anger is a gamble. Flaa is now feeling the ramifications of getting it wrong. With the bigger drama of Lively and Baldoni, though, Flaa is merely a footnote in this whole tangled web.
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