December 23, 2024– Blake Lively’s brother-in-law claims the “public got played” by Justin Baldoni’s PR team.

The 37-year-old actress recently launched a lawsuit against her ‘It Ends With Us’ director and co-star, accusing his PR team of trying to “destroy” her reputation, and Bart Johnson has now taken to social media to throw his support behind Blake.

Bart – who is the husband of Blake’s half-sister, Robyn Lively – said in response to an Instagram post from The New York Times about the complaint: “Her complaints were filed during the filming. On record. Long before the public conflict. The cast unfollowed him for a reason. Read this article before spiting ignorance.”

Bart accused Justin’s PR team of trying to “bury” his sister-in-law.

Bart wrote: “His PR team was stellar. Gross and disgusting but highly effective. Read the article, their text message exchanges and his PR campaign strategy to bury her by any means necessary. No one is without faults. But the public got played.”

Meanwhile, Justin’s lawyer has accused Blake of making “categorically false accusations” against his client.

Bryan Freedman, who is acting as a lawyer for the actor and his Wayfarer Studios production company, recently told Variety: “It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, as yet another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film; interviews and press activities that were observed publicly, in real time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions.”

Freedman also accused the Hollywood star of trying to “publicly hurt” his client.

He said: “These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.”