lost: Blake Lively And Justin Baldoni: A year ago, I argued that Lively and Baldoni were locked in mutually assured destruction and that only the lawyers, media, and fans obsessively watching this feud are the real winners (“In the lawsuit filings,” I wrote at the time, “Lively sounds like someone who would order the launch of nuclear warheads in exchange for not getting a booth at a restaurant. Whereas Baldoni sounds like someone who bursts into tears when a Tinder date fails to compliment his unwanted penis pic “).
It turns out that this prediction was correct. The duo settled this week ahead of their courtroom showdown and issued a meaningless and blameless media statement with hedging sauce. If a New York Post The report was correct in that no money changed hands — other than the duo paying a staggering $60 million in legal fees — and the settlement was even more surprising. All that drama… for the sake of stagnation and statement? Budget for And it ends with us It was $25 million. Lively and Baldoni could have just made two sequels instead of paying lawyers, but hey, everyone has their own idea of fun.
However, Lively and Baldoni would still be there Winners this week. Avoiding court benefits both of them, and they seem ready to move on with their careers (what’s left of them in the smoldering ashes). Lively looked especially beautiful when she stepped out for the Met Gala (more on that below). It was a smart move, with real energy to “turn over a new leaf” (even if the gossip whispered: Where is Ryan?).
Then came the news that Lively’s team was still pursuing Baldoni to try to recover damages and legal fees from Baldoni’s retaliatory defamation lawsuit. Her lawyers then announced to the press that “this settlement represents a resounding victory…Justin Baldoni and each individual defendant now face personal liability for abusing the legal system to silence and intimidate Ms. Lively.” Baldoni’s lawyer then responded, saying, “This is a win and a complete victory… They settled because they knew they were going to lose.”
All this within 48 hours of the settlement statement, which included verbatim this sentence: “It is our sincere hope that this will bring closure to the matter and allow all participants to move forward constructively and in peace, including in a respectful online environment.” “It’s like having an exhausting, hours-long argument with your spouse, where you both finally calm down and come to terms, and then as your partner walks out of the room, you both turn around and go, “And one more thing!“
beat: Louis C.K: It’s like this line of The Rise of Skywalker: “Somehow, Louis CK is back…” Nine years after the Hollywood comedian was canceled after admitting to sexual misconduct, he’s back to headline the Netflix Is a Joke festival. At the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday, the comedian said: “Thank you Netflix. I really appreciate the concert.”
Regardless of your feelings on the matter, there’s a legitimate question for Netflix. Our sister’s post diverse He spoke to streaming director Robbie Brow and asked him: “Tell me about the process of getting him back on Netflix” – which is the simplest way to ask the real question, which is: You guys canceled a Louis CK special because of his scandal and haven’t dealt with him since. What really changed that made you want to work with him again?
Brow’s answer: “…Part of my team’s job is that we listen to what kind of situations people want to watch, but we also spend a lot of time researching who is selling tickets around the world. Louis has had a really impressive run over the last couple of years, and he has a great special out now, so we’re excited to see him on Netflix this summer.”
Except that CK returned to widespread popularity with popular material in the improv scene shortly after the pandemic, rather than more recently. It won a Grammy for Best Comedy Album in 2022. It sold out Madison Square Garden in 2023. If Prow were pressed about this, one suspects he would keep repeating the same answer, Western world Robot style.
An honest response might be: It’s been almost a decade, it’s very popular, no one can agree on the consequences of some mistakes, we estimate that the negative reaction will be minimal.. But wait: “My team just noticed that this guy from Louis CK is selling tickets” is also an answer.
lost: Met Gala: The party has gone from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “tax the rich” dress five years ago to the event being invaded by the wealthy, with Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez paying Bezos $10 million to serve as honorary chairs. Tech giants Mark Zuckerberg and Sergey Brin also crashed the annual display of protest decadence. The “Tech Gala” development has led to largely unsubstantiated speculation that some celebrities are boycotting the event (one bet is that every celebrity on the list of suspected boycotts regularly has Amazon purchases on their doorstep).
For all the criticism of the billionaire invasion, the event has long been an advertisement, a media hype and a ritual of networking between the rich and powerful, so what has really changed? The event’s greatest sin was that the costumes – that is, the fashion – in the show were neither daring nor interesting (“tame… moody, restrained, safe,” which was the way it was done. NPR In the words of cultural critic Marjon Carlos.) We want our Met Gala stars to look like extras Hunger Games Capitol so we can mock them and violently say how out of touch they are with reality. The event failed in its only function.
beat: Spencer Pratt: He was Hills Could the star become a good mayor of Los Angeles? Perhaps the better question: Would he do that for a worse question? Los Angeles Times and Vanity gallery Both rated his debate performance for the first time this week as a “winner” (hey, don’t steal my stuff) and an informal NBC4-LA poll indicated Brat was the clear victor in the debate.
It was a grudging admission that Pratt had done very well against incumbent Karen Bass and City Councilwoman Nithya Raman (or as Pratt brutally described Raman, “a random city council member”). The viral Batman AI ad backing Pratt also got a lot of attention this week, even if it was largely praised by right-wingers on
beat: Disney broke its bottom line this week — revenue rose 7 percent, with Disney+ and Hulu boosting profitability at a time when streamers are struggling. The company’s theme parks division continues to print money (partly by squeezing Disney’s creepy adults into debt to fund their addiction to the Finding Nemo Submarine Ride).
lost:Warner Bros. has seen Revenue fell by 3 percent and the company lost $2.9 billion in the first quarter. The latter was largely due to having to pay Netflix’s extraordinary $2.8 billion “breakup fee” (show of hands: how many people want to have the breakup fee paid when they’re ditched, too?). However, streaming was up 9 percent, prompting CEO David Zaslav to describe HBO Max as “perhaps…our most important asset” (which HBO CEO Casey Bloys certainly thinks: What do you mean by “maybe”?)
beat: Sean Astin: Lord of the Rings The SAG-AFTRA president-turned-star helped lead his union through six weeks of arduous negotiations to craft a new contract with the studios and streamers, averting a strike. Although nothing is official yet, it is also rumored that Astin will reprise his beloved role of Samwise Gamgee in the recently announced film. The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past (aka the Stephen Colbert one). Come on, you can’t bring Frodo back to Elijah Wood for him the Search for Gollum Without bringing back “Hey Sam” for the next movie.
Last week: Why Jimmy Kimmel and Meryl won Streep and The Mandalorian and Grogu lost?
Next week: Winners and Losers, livestream edition…
Ideas, advice, praise, suggestions and complaints: jhibberd@thr.com.
