Actor and filmmaker Justin Baldoni is on one end of a legal battle between him and his It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds. The Gossip Girl actress made the first move with a complaint against the filmmaker, alleging s*xual harassment on the sets and orchestrating a smear campaign against her.
As Baldoni fights the allegations with a defamation lawsuit worth over $400 million, the actor’s workplace practices have come to light, revealing more incidents that might have irked other colleagues. A member of the Baha’i faith, Baldoni’s insistence on one practice reportedly made a female executive very uncomfortable.
One of Justin Baldoni’s workplace practices reportedly made a female executive uncomfortable
Justin Baldoni has always positioned himself as a proponent of gender equality and many of his ventures are focused on this. He hosted a podcast series titled Man Enough talking about what it meant to be a man at this time in the world and is also a board member of a non-profit organization for women and children survivors of domestic violence.
However, the allegations of s*xual harassment on the sets of It Ends With Us made by Blake Lively have brought this image of his into contention. His Man Enough co-host Liz Plank left the show after the allegations surfaced and he is currently fighting an epic legal battle with Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, suing them for defamation.
A recent report exploring Baldoni’s Baha’i faith revealed that the filmmaker introduced several of the practices at the offices of his company Wayfarer Studios and on the sets of his films. One such practice reportedly involved going around the room and asking colleagues about one personal detail about their life.
While the faith has largely been known for its philosophies of equality and well-being, the practices brought to the workplace by Baldoni reportedly made one female executive uncomfortable. THR reported the executive stating,
In my head, I was like, ‘I’m sorry, are we at Café f*cking Gratitude?’ Why are you imposing your culture on this meeting that’s being held at our offices? I can’t explain exactly why, but it made me so uncomfortable.
The production company reportedly has many of the Baha’i faith as employees, including co-founder Steve Sarowitz.
Justin Baldoni’s unorthodox methods may have rubbed colleagues the wrong way
Justin Baldoni is currently feuding with Blake Lively over her claims that he made several s*xually charged statements and acts while on the sets of It Ends With Us. While the actor-filmmaker denies those claims, his unorthodox practices related to his Baha’i faith seemed to have rubbed many of his colleagues the wrong way.
Baldoni’s habit of prioritizing the mental and physical well-being of his colleagues was reportedly seen as out-of-place on a movie set that was filled with not just film crews but also lawyers and union workers. An employee stated to THR,
I’ve never worked with a male director who was so worried about everyone’s emotional and mental well-being. There was an openness and emotionality to his style that was more typical of a woman…But if you get a bunch of Teamsters together who are told that they should share their feelings, of course, someone is going to ask, ‘Why is he such a freak?’
The employee also mentioned that the practices would probably not be so weird if it was by a female director but because it was Baldoni, it rubbed people the wrong way.
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