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Okay, guys, I have seen your comments asking for an update on the Blake Lively Justin Baldoni case and all of that drama. Let's spend this lovely Saturday morning diving into everything that has happened since the last time we spoke. All right, so basically, TL Dr. What you guys have missed is just a lot of legalese. More things have come out. People have been subpoenaed. It is all very normal lawsuit things, but obviously the content is incredibly interesting and incredibly illuminating, and I don't think it makes one of the parties look very good. And I think you know who we are talking about. This woman bit off more than she can chew, in my opinion. So like I said, even more communications are coming out between Justin and Blake and the crew, their friends, everything. The Taylor Swift messages, before you ask, they have not been released yet. The judge did approve them, so we will see if that actually happens. Who knows? But that will not be part of that episode. If that happens, believe me, that'll be in a real episode. If I'm on maternity leave, I will be coming back baby strapped on to me to read those text messages anyway. But I am going to read you some of the emails and texts between Justin and his team about their experiences working with Blake on the film because again, they're very illuminating and don't really make her look that great. So this first one that I'm gonna read is probably the most glaring of all of the text messages. This one is from Justin to his team right after Blake sent her infamous stuff safety letter over to Justin and the Wayfarer team. That's his production team, his production company, accusing them of harassing her and having an unsafe work environment. So this is what Justin said. He said, hey, all, Happy New Year. I'm flying back to New Jersey on Friday, day one of 17. I haven't seen Blake in person since this safety letter. Accusation, feeling, all sorts of things. This is the important part. She used the claim slash letter to gain power over the whole production. Trying to find my balance of captaining a ship and leading it while it is being held hostage, how to give her most of what she wants while maintaining some of my own vision. Starting Friday, acting and working with this person who can and will use everything she can against me. It is all scary, yet I know I have protection. Starting this thread again is I will need the emotional and spiritual support. Love you all. Guys. This is again, I don't know if there's a better word other than glaring. Like everything we have been saying and assuming since the beginning that this was not Actually about sexual harassment. This was not about Blake's feelings. This was about her and Ryan wanting to take control over the production and make the movie into their own thing. They wanted to have the, you know, it ends with us, Deadpool, Wolverine, the new Barbenheimer. They were trying to redo that. They were trying to use this to explode Blake's brand and her haircare and her drinks and Ryan Reynolds Gin company and all of the things. They wanted this film to be that vehicle for themselves. And it backfired because obviously, if you guys remember from last fall, when the movie came out, everybody acknowledged that there was weird tension, that it was being promoted in a really weird way, that Justin was not being involved. She did not like the fact that the public sniffed out all of that. And that is my opinion of why she then filed the lawsuit and did all of this stuff. But we have not actually heard from anyone involved. We have not heard from them specifically acknowledging that this is what happened. And here we have this text. This is from January of 2024. So months before the film came out, they were still in production. And he was saying that his production was held hostage, that they were trying to take control. This confirms all of the Internet's theories. You guys, the sleuths, they are always. They are always on it. And again, it paints such an important picture that Justin knew the entire time that this was her motive, that she and Ryan wanted to take control over the movie and that they were willing to do whatever it took to make that happen, which is why he was so uncomfortable and had to be so on guard. And to his credit, he did not say anything. He did not do anything until she leaked everything to the New York Times and filed that lawsuit. And I just have to think, like, that had to be so emotionally and mentally draining to be in that environment, to be so on edge with the person that you have to work with. You have to be pretending that you are in love with and romantically involved with every single day. Like, the only thing that could have gotten me through a smear campaign, a PR nightmare, is my Helix mattress. 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Now back to the story and all these updates. If you remember, Blake is accusing Justin in her original lawsuit of smearing her in retaliation to her claiming sexual harassment. So the lawsuit isn't exactly about sexual harassment. It is about what Justin allegedly did to her after she sent that infamous sentence safety letter. However, through these new texts that have come out, we are seeing evidence that Justin specifically told his team to make sure that they were not part of the public attacks on her. So this is from. Here we go. 8:23, 2024. He texted his team and he said, this is an example of somebody trolling Blake on all my posts, but it doesn't seem like a real account. And he's sending this to his PR team. They write back, Melissa Nathan, that's one of the PR people, she said, yet it could be an actual troll, as they exist too. But yes, 100%, this is not anyone from team whatsoever. And Justin hearts that message. He loves it. He's saying thank you. That is text slang for thank you so much. I wanted to be reassured that we are not playing a role in this smearing this whole campaign that is happening against Blake Lively on social media, which, I'm sorry, Blake, I think that was just your own doing. That was not Justin, as we are seeing in these text messages now. Another example of this is the full conversation from a doctored quote that Blake used in her original suit. So in the original lawsuit, she cherry picked parts of different conversations that she got through subpoenaing Justin's PR team. And one of these quotes read like this. The lawsuit says, for instance, the Wayfarer defendants disclaim the quote, use of social media bots, trolls, troll farms, paid or incentive accounts, or seeding, amplifying, boosting, or planting content despite clear evidence to the contrary. And then this is the text conversation that they cherry picked and they put in this lawsuit. Justin, this is an incredible post from someone we have worked with on Man Enough. That's his podcast. He nailed it, as it was my exact intention. And then Jennifer Abel, that is another one of the PR people, she responded and said, let's boost this. And they underline it instead of you posting it. I know the video has nothing to do with it, but let's instead have third parties amplify instead of you right now. And what I just want you guys to know is that that is normal in pr. You might see something. You might see a message pop up here. PR agents, they have people everywhere. They might send something to somebody else for somebody to post. They might, you know, circulate things that will help build your brand or help protect you without you actually having to do the legwork. However, that cherry Picks little quote. The full conversation that it comes from is not even about Blake. It is not about Blake or allegedly smearing her or acting in retaliation. It is about protecting the author of the original book. It ends with us, Colleen Hoover. So, Baldoni, the full text message, this is also from August, around the same time as when we just read. He says, this is an incredible post from somebody we have worked with on Man Enough. He nailed it. As was my exact intention. He's saying something that I could post, and then this message isn't coming from me, and I'm honoring victims. Which makes sense because Justin's entire goal as he was promoting the movie and going through all the premieres was to honor victims because the movie is about domestic violence. You would not have known that if you were just watching what Blake was doing with her florals and her hair care and her husband's gin line and having Hugh Jackman be there, all of that stuff. But the movie actually is about domestic violence. And throughout all of this, what we have seen from Justin is that he was very concerned about how the movie was going to be perceived, and he wanted it to be respectful. So he's saying, I want to honor victims, and this is a great way to do that. Jennifer Abel responds and says, let's boost this instead of you posting it. For this reason, some of the comments on the video that he just sent to them reference Colleen romanticizing domestic violence, and we don't want it to be interpreted as a dig at anyone. I know the video has nothing to do with it, but let's instead have third parties amplify instead of you right now. So she is saying, we need to protect Colleen. We don't want this to be interpreted as a dig at anyone. We are not trying to smear Blake. You know, we are confirming that these are not trolls that we are sending out there, that nobody from your team is smearing Blake, and we want to protect the author of this book, who, by the way, by this time had already sided with Blake. She was in her florals. She was showing up to the premieres with the hair care, all of that stuff, while Justin was by himself with his family in the basement. And even though all of that was happening, he was still trying to protect them. He was still trying to be the bigger person. That is what we see from these text messages. So it is interesting that Blake did not include the entire thing in her original filing. In the original filing, they, in my opinion, intentionally twisted it to make it seem like they were using these bots or third parties to go after Blake when that was not happening. And that was not even the context of the conversation. In fact, going through all of these text messages and emails, most of the interactions between Justin and his PR team were just trying to figure out how to protect him from the smears that Blake and Ryan were allegedly hurling at him throughout most of the production going back to even before the film premiered. Like this text right here, this is from Justin. And he says, no worries. Quickly, my partner Steve asked about flipping the narrative from the leak this a.m. about Ryan saying the script was a disaster and that he saved the movie. And that is something that did actually come out. There were all of these articles saying that Ryan Reynolds had to step in, he had to rewrite the scene with his wife Blake, because it was a disaster. He had to fix the film. He, the night in Shining Deadpool, had to come in and save the movie. Now, flipping a narrative to protect yourself after somebody else leaked information about you to make you look bad is not some kind of sinister retaliation. That is just normal pr. That is what Justin's team was hired to do to protect their client. He is not actively going after these people, trying to stir up drama. He is just trying to protect his reputation and flip a narrative that the script that he created, the production that he birthed because he was the one who actually went and got the option to make this film. He's just trying to make sure that the public knows that it wasn't actually a disaster because the film did get greenlit, it had funding, people were happy with it until Justin and Blake came onto the scene. That is all his team was trying to convey. And if that hurt Blake and Ryan's feelings, maybe they should not have told the press that Justin's script was terrible and need to be saved in the first place. Maybe they should not have stirred the pot and then Justin's team would not have needed to protect him. And if you believe genuinely, genuinely, if you're one of those people online that believe that protecting your name and reputation when you have done nothing wrong is some sort of sinister retaliation, I don't know what to tell you. That's just like a normal part of being a public figure. That is a normal thing that PR people do. They do it to their best abilities. And based on everything that I am seeing, Justin was being the bigger person by trying to protect people who were turning against him. Like that says a lot about his character. And I cannot say the same thing for Blake. Now, moving on from that, this is longer than I thought. But I had a lot of things to say about this. Sorry, guys. The next update that I have for you is about Isabella Fehrer. And this is the girl who played young Blake in the movie, because she is now also accusing Justin of harassment. And you might hear that and you might go, oh, my God, Bret. Now, is this changing the entire story? Somebody else is coming out. No, it's not because of anything that allegedly happened on set. It's not because of a birthing scene or somebody coming into your trailer when you're breastfeeding. Whatever. It's because she got subpoenaed. And because she got subpoenaed, she is now accusing Justin of harassing her. Now, to catch you guys up on the bigger picture, basically everybody and their mother is getting a subpoena. This is not directly targeted at Isabella. They are not trying to go after this young woman. Like, literally everybody is getting subpoenaed. Like, last month, a bunch of YouTubers and podcasters, journalists like Candace and Perez Hilton, they got subpoenas from Blake. Even small YouTubers and TikTokers were getting subpoenas through Google. Like, Google was having to tell them, like, hey, you got a subpoena from Blake Lively and Wayfarer Studios. But Blake is convinced that all of these people, these independent journalists like Candace, are part of this coordinated retaliation. Which, by the way, Candace did an absolutely hysterical episode when she got the subpoena. She subpoenaed herself, and she, like, pulled out all of her text messages and was like, okay, guys, here are all the times that I've talked about Blake on my phone. This is the first time it's hysterical. Go watch it if you did not catch up on that. But basically what I'm trying to say is that everybody has gotten subpoenaed. And more recently, Blake and Justin's team both subpoenaed the actress who played young Lily, AKA Young Blake Lively. Headline reads, it ends with US Actresses Bella Ferrer accuses Justin of harassing her with subpoena request. Guys, she is basically running from the subpoena as far as she can. This is what her team told People magazine after Farreh submitted her relevant. It ends with US communication. In response to Lively subpoena, which came first, Baldoni and his collaborators, quote, have been improperly attempting to exert control over her, including with the new subpoena that Farrer's lawyers claim overlaps significantly with livelies. Doesn't matter if it overlaps. They also want the information. Baldoni made no effort to tailor the subpoena towards the production of new or different materials, demonstrating that the real aim of the Baldoni subpoena, as well as the pending motion is to harass Mrs. Fair. Baldoni's subpoena and motion, it continues, are transparent efforts to exert pressure on Ms. Fair, including by publicly disseminating home addresses that could have been Ms. Fair's home. That sort of contact from Baldoni is not new. And yet they don't expand on how that's not new information. They don't say, because he harassed her in X, Y, Z, different ways on set, because he is this awful person. They're just saying it is not new. He is so awful, but they don't give a reason why. Now, obviously, Justin wants the information because it is relevant to him and his reputation. And he wants to know what Blake and Isabella, who became little buddy buddies, best friends, having sleepovers, going out and having coffee and dinner and all the things and dressing together, and, you know, Blake giving Isabella all of the clothes, wearing their florals at the premieres. He wants to know what they were talking about. Now, something else that is really interesting is that Blake pulled Isabella into the case first. But Isabella did not accuse Blake of harassing her when she received that subpoena. And also she did not ask for Blake's team to pay her legal fees. But she is doing all of that to Justin, which is exactly what his team was talking about in their response. The five feet apart director's lawyers, that is, Justin said that they did not harass because they weren't the first to issue her a summons. Blake Lively was. Ms. Lively should not be permitted to obtain discovery from Ms. Fair. While Ms. Fair and her council frustrate all effort by the Wayfarer parties to obtain the discovery critical to the preparation of their defense. Given the circumstances, the Wayfarer parties are willing to stipulate that none of the parties will use any communication to or from or concerning Ms. Farrer or any testimony from her in any manner in this action. Basically what they're saying is that if there is going to be this hypocrisy and drama, if only one side is gonna be able to get the information, then no one should get the communications, which seems fair. That is what they tried to do with Taylor Swift as well. But with the way that Blake allegedly allegedly manipulated communications that were given to the New York Times when everything first came out, the manipulating, the cherry picking of quotes and texts in the original filing, which we were just talking about, I can understand why Justin's team is fighting to see everything why they want to subpoena somebody for themselves and get the information firsthand. That makes sense. And again, Isabella, that is not harassment. Everybody has been subpoenaed. Candace Owens got subpoenaed. This is not about you. It is not harassment. And in looking at the bigger picture, this all goes back to just how insane the MeToo movement has made people. It ties into the toxic nature of this movement. Because, I'm sorry, not everything is harassment. You cannot claim harassment just because you don't want to be involved, because you want to stick over here with your florals and your best friend, and you don't want to have to give your text messages to somebody that you don't like. But I'm sorry, that's not how it works in a lawsuit. Like, running around screaming harassment at everything takes away from the people who have actually been harassed, who have been harmed, who have dealt with awful things in their work environments, who are fighting for justice to get out from under the people who are harassing them. And all of this belittles all of that. And I'm sorry, Isabella, and I'm sorry, Blake, but all is fair in love and lawsuits. And just to be fair. So we're all on the same page here. I am not angry at Isabella. Like, Isabella, she's a young actress. I think this was her first big movie job. She does not have a ton of experience. I don't think she has some huge, high powered legal team behind her. She certainly did not ask to be pulled into the world's most controversial lawsuit when she got this job in her first big movie. But if she played a role in hurting what I believe to be an innocent man's reputation or has information that she obtained through her buddy, buddy floral relationship with Blake, all of that is relevant. And Justin deserves to be able to obtain that information for his defense, to be able to clear his name and get back to doing what he does best, which is producing movies. And Isabella is not a child. She's gonna have to deal with it. Like, I'm sorry, that's just what happens. Sometimes you get pulled into lawsuits, and sometimes you have to deal with them. Isabella, you are unfortunately learning that right now. And if you want to blame somebody, if you want to wag the finger at somebody, do not blame Justin for subpoenaing you after Blake Lively did. If you wanna blame somebody, blame the woman and her husband who forced him to have to fight back in the first place. Because in my opinion, that is where all of this started. So there is your update, guys. There is all of the information. If there is anything new that comes out, if we get the Taylor Swift texts, I will for sure do an episode, even if I have to do it with my baby strapped onto me. All right, guys, I'll see you on Monday.