Blake Lively as Lily Bloom and Justin Baldoni as Ryle Kincaid sing karaoke in a scene in It Ends With Us
(Sony Pictures)

Page Six is getting dragged for role in Justin Baldoni controversy

It is kind of hilarious to see Page Six still allegedly bending to the will of Justin Baldoni’s PR team. The outlet, which was accused of publishing smear pieces on Blake Lively, published a puff piece today about Baldoni.

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During the press tour for It Ends With Us, fans took notice that Baldoni, who directed and starred in the film, was not doing press with any of the cast. It was weird given his role opposite Lively in the film. As more fans took notice, they also clocked that the cast no longer followed Baldoni on social media. Reports began to surface about Baldoni’s actions on set and as the narrative began to form against him, he quickly hired a PR team that changed the narrative.

Now, Lively has filed a lawsuit against Baldoni for his actions on set. In the suit, she also accuses him and his PR team of launching a smear campaign against her. One of the publications allegedly cited was Page Six. Now, the outlet published a piece all about Baldoni’s wife and children, days after the lawsuit was released.

This piece comes after text messages revealed that Baldoni, Jennifer Abel, and Melissa Nathan all wanted to “bury” Lively to save Baldoni’s name. The texts included Baldoni citing a stan account that accused Hailey Bieber of bullying and texted his team “This is what we would need.” The lawsuit claims that Nathan’s sister, Sara Nathan was used to plant stories. Sara Nathan is the editor-at-large of The New York Post, which owns Page Six.

Baldoni’s strategy was to weaponize fans against Lively. Which does nothing but highlight his manipulation tactics if proven to be true. Baldoni, Abel, and Nathan were willing to allegedly lie to people to hide his actions.

Page Six and The Post should be ashamed. They won’t be though

The fact that the outlet was accused of contributing to a smear campaign and then posted a puff piece not days later says a lot. To be fair, outlets like The NY Post and Page Six are not above trash journalism. But to show how little they care so obviously should be all we need to know. These outlets still get access to celebrities. They shouldn’t.

If an outlet is willing to participate in what is allegedly a smear campaign and then turns around to post a puff piece about the party they allegedly helped out, why are we giving them access to things? I have seen these publications at carpets. They get direct access to celebrities. And if they are still given that access after doing things like this, that’s the problem. They can get away with it.

Page Six being roped into this isn’t surprising. But the fact that they willingly posted that piece on Baldoni a few days later is really showing their cards. This entire situation is messed up and if proven to be true, the use of fandom within this case is disgusting. Abel and Nathan should be ashamed but then, they allegedly celebrated the smear campaign’s success against Lively so…


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Rachel Leishman
Assistant Editor
Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her current obsession is Glen Powell's dog, Brisket. Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.