“It Ends With Us” actor Brandon Sklenar denies wearing pin to support Justin Baldoni: 'Total happenstance'

Sometimes a brooch is just a brooch.

It Ends With Us actor Brandon Sklenar is asserting that he wasn't sending any sort of message when he recently wore the same lapel pin as his director and costar Justin Baldoni, who is currently embroiled in a very public legal battle with fellow castmate Blake Lively.

At the premiere of his new thriller Drop at SXSW on Sunday, Sklenar was asked point blank if there was any hidden meaning behind him wearing an eye-catching floral brooch at an Oscar party the previous weekend, seven months after Baldoni sported the same accessory at the It Ends With Us premiere.

"Honestly, no. I wish I could say there was," Sklenar told PEOPLE. "That was a total happenstance."

Sklenar wore the pin to the Vanity Fair Oscar Party on March 2, and shouted it out in a fit pic posted to Instagram. "Long live the (brooch)," he wrote. Of course, it didn't take internet sleuths long to notice the choice of accessory and speculate about its meaning.

Related: Megyn Kelly says 'serial fraudster' Blake Lively has 'ruined her brand' with Justin Baldoni lawsuit

"I woke up in the morning and saw an article and I was like, 'Oh, damn,'" Sklenar told PEOPLE. "I literally had no idea. I had an idea I wanted to wear like a floral brooch of some kind and that was the color that I liked the best. And, lo and behold, someone also wore that prior to me wearing it."

Baldoni and Lively have been feuding for months and filed lawsuits against each other, with Lively accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment and launching a smear campaign and him accusing her of defamation and extortion.

Though Sklenar says the brooch wasn't a statement, he has previously spoken about the ongoing conflict. At the aforementioned Vanity Fair party, Sklenar was asked by The Hollywood Reporter how he was "hoping to support" Lively "during this time."

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

"It's a tough situation," he said. "I just hope everyone remembers what the movie is about and why we made it in the first place. It's about love. It's about supporting women in general and helping people through tough times."

Based on the best-selling Colleen Hoover novel and released last August, It Ends With Us stars Lively as a florist who falls for an abusive neurosurgeon (played by Baldoni, who also directed the film).

Related: Justin Baldoni's lawyer claims Ryan Reynolds mocks actor in Deadpool & Wolverine: 'No question'

Sklenar told THR that that the film has "helped so many people." He added, "I just want people to remember what it's about, why we made it, and to kinda keep it on that. That kind of, like, core ethos, you know what I mean?"

Representatives for Baldoni and Sklenar didn't immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly's requests for comment Monday.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly