## Colophon tags:: url:: https://spitfirenews.com/p/flooding-the-zone-against-blake-lively %% title:: Flooding the zone against Blake Lively type:: [[clipped-note]] author:: [[@spitfirenews.com]] %% ## Notes > Flooding the zone against Blake Lively — [view in context](https://hyp.is/nRCZWgJbEfCKu8eB1mj0kA/spitfirenews.com/p/flooding-the-zone-against-blake-lively) ⬆️ date:: [[2025-03-16]] > There are a dizzying number of narratives being amplified about this case, the loudest of which distract from and distort Lively’s allegations. After Lively sued her former co-star and director Justin Baldoni in December for sexual harassment and retaliation, he countersued her for defamation. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/ri531AJbEfCZWVfPXtR1Eg/spitfirenews.com/p/flooding-the-zone-against-blake-lively) > Baldoni and his lawyer Bryan Freedman embarked on an aggressive media campaign, releasing video, audio, and more text messages from behind the scenes of It Ends With Us, Baldoni’s blockbuster adaptation of the bestselling novel. Team Baldoni created a website with almost 400 pages of timelines and documents. Freedman appeared in on-camera interviews and provided endless statements to the press. These extrajudicial defenses have played a major role in shaping the conversation about the case online—and Lively’s lawyers have called them defamatory. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/uvELOgJbEfCA5RfvC4o6fA/spitfirenews.com/p/flooding-the-zone-against-blake-lively) > Team Baldoni’s strategy reminds me of a phrase from Steve Bannon, the former Breitbart News executive, presidential campaign manager, and senior counselor to Donald Trump who spent four months in prison. In a 2018 Bloomberg interview with journalist Michael Lewis, shortly after he was ousted from the Trump White House, Bannon said “The Democrats don’t matter. The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.” — [view in context](https://hyp.is/1aXykgJbEfCfuvNx-14feA/spitfirenews.com/p/flooding-the-zone-against-blake-lively) > Seven years later, as it turned out, Bannon’s strategy to get Trump elected was also used to combat support for sexual assault and harassment allegations (including ones made against Trump). Lawyers, journalists, pundits, and publicists have banded together to protect their clients and the status quo by flooding the zone around these cases with shit. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/ScEzOAJtEfCNNetZo7MKJw/spitfirenews.com/p/flooding-the-zone-against-blake-lively) > Hiltzik is a well-known crisis PR firm that has represented Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, and Johnny Depp, who reportedly moved to TAG with Nathan. She represented Depp during his 2022 trial against Amber Heard, where the same playbook working against Lively was deployed. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/48tcagJtEfCLdBcE0NVyfA/spitfirenews.com/p/flooding-the-zone-against-blake-lively)