We hoped to avoid writing about the ongoing and messy legal and comms battle between Hollywood actors Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. But it’s become too sprawling and interesting to ignore. The multifaceted scandal has much to say about what crisis communications is — and isn’t.

Lively and Baldoni (pictured) star in (he also directed) It Ends With Us, a movie released in August that grossed $350 million worldwide. During the flick’s promotion, stories started coming out about an on-set feud between the actors and about how allegedly difficult Lively was to work with.

Yet, on Dec. 20, Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department alleging she was sexually harassed on set, including Baldoni subjecting her to unwanted and unscripted kissing. Baldoni and Jamey Heath, CEO of production company Wayfarer Studios, also entered her trailer when she was unclothed, she said.

Lively contends she was retaliated against for complaining about the harassment via a Baldoni-led smear campaign about her on-set behavior. The New York Times detailed that alleged campaign in a story the next day.

‘Bury Anyone’

Lively alleges Baldoni hired crisis communicator Melissa Nathan to plant negative stories and social-media posts about her. “You know we can bury anyone,” Nathan wrote to another publicist on the team, according to the Times.

On Dec. 31, Lively sued Baldoni, his publicists and Wayfarer in federal court along the same lines as the California civil-rights complaint. That same day, Baldoni and his publicists sued The New York Times for libel, arguing its article that month left out important context and included doctored communications. So, yet another defamation lawsuit (it really is a remarkable trend).

Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman — echoing Lively’s accusations against Baldoni — said the Times article was part of a smear campaign Lively and her team orchestrated against his client. Freedman went on NBC’s Today show Jan. 3 and said Baldoni plans to sue Lively.

What to make of all this? It’s certainly put a lot of focus on the role of the Hollywood publicist. But it’s also given the misimpression of what most crisis communications is about. Spoiler alert: It’s not about smear campaigns.

‘Truth-Telling’

As crisis communicator Bruce Hennes wrote on his blog back on Dec. 24, in commenting on the Lively-Baldoni feud, “At its core, crisis communications is about truth-telling. True practitioners of this field are committed to advising clients to acknowledge mistakes, take accountability and implement corrective actions.”

In other words, it’s not about “the black arts” — using underhanded methods to besmirch an opponent. Yes, we know there are “professionals” who engage in that. But it’s not, in our view, true crisis communications, which is about getting out your truthful side of the story. Believe it or not, some situations are complicated enough that simply doing that is a big job.

Photo Credit: Bella1105/Shutterstock

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