Blake Lively has been blasted as ‘tone deaf’ and ‘shallow’ after she hosted an interview with her It Ends With Us costars and failed to discuss the serious message behind the movie.
The film, which is based off Colleen Hoover’s novel of the same name, follows a woman named Lily Bloom, played by Blake, who becomes embroiled in an abusive relationship with a man named Ryle Kincaid, portrayed by Justin Baldoni.
But when the Gossip Girl alum, 36, sat down with fellow cast members Jenny Slate and Isabela Ferrer, as well as author Colleen last week to discuss the new flick, many people were left unamused by the lighthearted nature of their conversation.
The four women giggled together as they discussed everything from their dream jobs to their zodiac signs, but there was no mention of domestic violence during their chat.
And social media users were quick to slam them – particularly Blake, who hosted the interview – for partaking in the breezy questionnaire given the serious nature of the film, and for failing to speak about the topic.
Blake Lively has been blasted as ‘tone deaf’ and ‘shallow’ after she hosted an interview with her It Ends With Us costars and failed to discuss the serious message behind the movie
The film, which is based off Colleen Hoover’s novel of the same name, follows a woman named Lily Bloom who becomes embroiled in an abusive relationship with a man named Ryle Kincaid
But when the Gossip Girl alum, 36, sat down with fellow cast members Jenny Slate and Isabela Ferrer, as well as author Colleen last week to discuss the new flick, many people were left unamused by the lighthearted nature of their conversation
However, several hours later Blake took to Instagram to share information about domestic violence, as well as some resources for her followers.
She directed her followers to a series of links, which included a phone hotline for victims of domestic violence, as well as statistics and other information.
‘Everyone deserves relationships free of domestic violence,’ she wrote.
Earlier, Blake kicked off her It Ends With Us interview by asking her costars what their professions would be if they hadn’t chosen acting or, in Colleen’s case, writing.
Colleen said she’d want to be a chef while Isabela explained that she’d be ‘riding horses all the time.’
Jenny then revealed that she was terrified of horses, explaining that their hooves and ‘butts’ made her uncomfortable.
Everyone erupted in laughter as she added, ‘Their butts are shiny, it kills me. Ponytail out of the butt, it’s crazy.’
After that, Blake asked each of them to share their zodiac signs so they could figure out ‘how compatible they are’ with one another.
Next, she asked, ‘What would be a good addition to the human body?’
‘I would like another arm. Three hands working the keyboard? Wow,’ Colleen answered, while Jenna pondered that she’d love some wings.
‘We didn’t talk about our movie at all. Thanks for joining us,’ Blake concluded.
The four women giggled together as they discussed everything from their dream jobs to their zodiac signs, but there was no mention of domestic violence during their chat
Online users were quick to slam Blake, who hosted the interview, for partaking in the breezy questionnaire given the serious nature of the film, and for failing to speak about the topic
Blake shared a video of the interview to her Instagram, writing, ‘I’m gonna be sad when marketing is over and I don’t have excuses to sit on my couch dressed up with you ladies’
‘I think that will sell the film,’ Jenny added with a laugh.
Blake shared a video of the interview to her Instagram account last week, which she captioned with, ‘Becoming friends with [Jenny Slate] and all of these women [Colleen Hoover and Isabela Ferrer] is the best thing to come out of [It Ends With Us] for me.
‘And that’s saying A LOT because I couldn’t be more proud of this film. I’m gonna be sad when marketing is over and I don’t have excuses to sit on my couch dressed up with you ladies.’
Read More
Justin Baldoni addresses 'friction' on set of It Ends With Us amid feud rumors with Blake Lively
Immediately, outraged viewers flocked to the comment section to criticize them.
‘I’m very confused. You missed the entire purpose of the movie. I’m sad and disappointed,’ one person wrote.
‘This is a movie about abuse, can you promote please appropriately?’ another asked.
Someone else added, ‘Blake is only here for the fashion and that’s all. She ain’t interested in the message this movie brings. Shallow.’
‘As someone who has read the book, as someone who liked Blake, and as a DV survivor… to say that this is so disappointing would be an understatement,’ a fourth comment read.
A fifth said, ‘This is the most tone deaf thing I’ve ever seen. This movie is about domestic violence, why are you promoting it like it’s a Barbie movie?’
‘When are you gonna talk about domestic violence? Trying to play this movie off as a fun romcom is wrong and disgusting,’ a different user scathed.
‘We don’t wanna hear about shows and your new hair care routine we wanna hear about the victims and how prevalent domestic violence remains in society. You have been given a platform, use it.’
Immediately, outraged viewers flocked to the comment section to criticize them
‘The way you’ve chosen to market this movie is a real shame and feels like an insult to DV survivors,’ someone else said.
‘Really disappointed and hard to believe the author would support it.’
‘Very disappointed in the way you are promoting this movie. I loved you as an actress but won’t be watching any of your movies anymore,’ another person declared.
‘You are being tone deaf about domestic violence. This could of been a huge opportunity to bring awareness to DV and you choose to blatantly ignore it.’
‘As a well meaning fan: this Girl Talk session reinforced multiple stereotypes about women, and doesn’t address the single most important theme in your film: domestic abuse,’ a different angry viewer wrote.
‘You can use this moment for a felonies reckoning, to make some difference in countless lives, to encourage and support women to speak up.
‘But you’re focusing on flowers and hair-care and outfits. Women are more than this, we deserved better from you.’
Others said they were ‘team Justin,’ referencing an alleged feud between Blake and the actor.
Rumors of tensions brewing between Justin, 40 – who on top of starring in it also directed and served as one of the producers for the film – and the blonde beauty have been swirling for weeks after fans noticed the two failed to do any press together leading up to the film’s release.
In addition, the on-screen love interests were not pictured together at the US premiere last week.
Eagle-eyed social media users also noticed that both Blake and author Colleen unfollowed Justin on Instagram recently.
To make matters more suspicious, actress Jenny completely dodged a question about Justin on the red carpet at the event.
‘What was it like having [Justin] be director but also a scene partner?’ a Deadline reporter asked the star.
‘I mean what an intense job to have to do so many things,’ she replied. ‘I found myself being like, “Wow, I just want to have one job at once.”
‘I’ve often felt that way, I really like writing and it’s special to be able to be a writer but I was looking around like, “Yeah I’m good with just acting.” I love it.’
Some people said they were ‘team Justin,’ referencing an alleged feud between Blake and her costar Justin Baldoni
Rumors of tensions brewing between Justin, 40, and the blonde beauty have been swirling for weeks after fans noticed the two failed to pose together at the red carpet premiere
A source told DailyMail.com recently that Blake and Justin clashed over his ‘dismissive’ attitude to her ‘input’ while they were filming scenes that involved abuse
A source told DailyMail.com recently that Blake and Justin clashed over his ‘dismissive’ attitude to her ‘input’ while they were filming scenes that involved abuse.
The insider claimed that Justin only focused on ‘what he believed was the abusive male viewpoint’ and had a very ‘chauvinistic’ approach to the topic.
‘During scenes depicting abuse, Justin failed to consider Blake’s character’s perspective, instead focusing solely on what he believed was the abusive male viewpoint,’ they said.
‘His approach was very chauvinistic, creating a tense atmosphere on set.’
The source claimed Justin was ‘borderline abusive’ on set, and said he ‘almost became the character.’
‘Justin almost became the character in the sense that some women on set felt he was borderline abusive to them and that he was unprofessional and unapologetic,’ they said.
‘Directing a film so serious and so important about domestic abuse without allowing the women to be included in this process is disturbing.’
While making the movie, Justin teamed up with nonprofit organization No More, which ‘focuses on combating domestic and sexual violence.’
‘Justin really wanted to know more of the details about intimate partner violence and wanted to make sure that he was representing it as accurately and sensitively as possible,’ a No More executive told The Wrap.
‘We didn’t want [the scenes depicting abuse] to be too difficult necessarily for an audience to see, but we also wanted them to be clear of what was going on.’
He spoke about the difficulties of portraying a domestic violence relationship on screen with CBS Mornings last week.
He admitted that ‘as a man,’ he came with ‘his own biases’ on the topic, but insisted he ‘made sure the film had a female gaze.’
‘As a man, I’m always going to come with my own biases. It’s one of the reasons I was afraid to direct this movie, let alone act in it,’ he said.
‘I wanted to make sure this film always had a female gaze and I was never putting myself into it.’