The legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni has been messy. There are several players, including multi-billionaire Steve Sarowitz, who is furnishing near-unlimited resources for Baldoni’s legal and PR crusades, a variety of complaints in several courts, and misinformation spreaders all over social media. Coverage has been rife with misogynistic and confusing storytelling. Baldoni and Jamey Heath (the CEO of Baldoni’s studio) have made (profitable) careers out of being male feminists, and this battle endangers their carefully crafted public personas.
This piece aims to add context at a time when Baldoni continues to play his cases out in the press. It is for a court to decide whose claims are most legally compelling, but I am going to sketch out Baldoni’s feminism, the movie release and controversy, ongoing court cases, and Lively’s allegations and Baldoni’s meager responses—so that readers might find, as I do, that this battle actually looks quite similar to what happens any time a woman stands up for herself against a well-resourced man.