Justin Baldoni’s PR Rep Breaks Silence on Allegations Says ‘No Smear’ Was Implemented

One of Justin Baldoni’s publicists enmeshed in Blake Lively’s legal complaint against her It Ends With Us co-star for allegedly sexually harassing her and orchestrating a smear campaign, denies ever facilitating “negative press” as the “internet was doing the work for us.”

In a private PR & Marketing Facebook group, RWA Communications founder Jennifer Abel wrote a lengthy message over the weekend defending her work as a publicist and addressing the leaked text messages between her and crisis management expert, Melissa Nathan, listed in Lively’s complaint.

“What the cherry-picked messages don’t include, although not shockingly as it doesn’t fit the narrative, is that there was no ‘smear’ implemented,” Abel wrote. “No negative press was ever facilitated, no social combat plan, although we were prepared for it as it’s our job to be ready for any scenario, but we didn’t have to implement anything because the internet was doing the work for us.

“Sure we talked about it, contemplated if we needed certain things, flagged accounts that we needed to monitor, worked with a social team to help us stay on top of the narrative so we could act quickly if needed,” she continued. “And yes, we rejoiced and joked in the fact that fans were recognizing our client’s heart and work without us having to do anything but keep our heads down and focus on positive interviews for our client.”

Abel went on to claim that Lively’s team was making their lives “incredibly difficult” over the course of It Ends With Us’ campaign, and that they were allegedly “planting horrible stories about my client as a ‘fail safe’” which is why a crisis team was formed. “I’m human. The long hours, months of preparation, on top of my day to day scope… it felt good to see that although we were prepared, we didn’t have to do anything over the top to protect our client,” she continued.

The publicist then addressed the optics of a woman working “against another woman who was a victim of all the things being claimed” and wrote, “After reviewing the evidence, facts, hard proof that countered every single thing that was being claimed and demanded at the start of production, I made a choice to stand by my client of almost 5 years, who had dedicated his life to the equal treatment of others, especially women. Who had no incidents of negative treatment of others, and who had a wonderful community and team at Wayfarer [Baldoni’s production company] who all held the same moral fortitude and lived their life accordingly.”

“As representatives, we all have to make that choice. So I did that to the best of my ability, and felt good about our efforts,” Abel continued before addressing Lively’s accusations saying she would “never slam another woman for speaking her truth” and that if evidence were to come up proving otherwise then “as a representative, I have to do what I feel is right as well.”

Abel did not return a request for comment from the Daily Beast on her post, but Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter have confirmed its veracity.

On Saturday, it was made public that Lively was accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment and his public relations team of planning a coordinated smear attack against her. Part of her suit included countless text messages and emails exchanged by Baldoni’s PR team including one text message where Abel wrote: “I’m having reckless thoughts of wanting to plant pieces this week of how horrible Blake is to work with. Just to get ahead of it.”

The New York Times additionally reported that Lively obtained these text messages through a subpoena, which Abel denied in her post and said that she found out text messages and emails were included in the complaint after she received it on Friday night.

In response to Lively’s claims of a smear campaign, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, released a statement Monday detailing that the actor’s publicists did what “any other crisis management firm” would do when their client was being threatened by “two extremely powerful people.”

“TAG PR operated as any other crisis management firm would when hired by a client experiencing threats by two extremely powerful people with unlimited resources,” Freedman told People magazine. “The standard scenario planning TAG PR drafted proved unnecessary as audiences found Lively’s own actions, interviews and marketing during the promotional tour distasteful, and responded organically to that which the media themselves picked up on.”

“It’s ironic that the New York Times, through their effort to ‘uncover’ an insidious PR effort, played directly into the hands of Lively’s own dubious PR tactics by publishing leaked personal text exchanges that lack critical context — the very same tactics she’s accusing the firm of implementing," he continued.