Blake Lively fires back at "sexist" cover amid Justin Baldoni It Ends with Us feud

Los Angeles, California - Gossip Girl star Blake Lively isn't thrilled about a magazine cover's illustration depicting her legal battle with Justin Baldoni!

Blake Lively slammed The Hollywood Reporter's illustration that seemingly pokes fun at her legal battle with Justin Baldoni.
Blake Lively slammed The Hollywood Reporter's illustration that seemingly pokes fun at her legal battle with Justin Baldoni.  © IMAGO / Matrix

Over the weekend, The Hollywood Reporter poked fun at the Blake vs. Justin feud with an eye-raising image for its cover story.

The sketch, designed to look like a nostalgic sci-fi movie poster, features Lively appearing to aim a slingshot armed with a cell phone at her It Ends with Us director/costar.

The article's title reads, "Blake vs. Baldoni: An Exclusive Look Behind the Battle Lines of Hollywood’s Uncivil War."

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The A Simple Favor actor's rep condemned the design in a statement to E! News, saying, "The Hollywood Reporter should be ashamed of itself.

They added, "The framing in this picture is outrageously insulting as it plays into every sexist trope about women who dare file a workplace complaint, turning them into the aggressor, and suggesting they deserve the retaliation that comes their way."

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Lively recently amended her filing against Baldoni, alleging that the director made other women "uncomfortable" which Baldoni's legal team slammed as "underwhelming" and "unsubstantial hearsay."

The Hollywood Reporter's cover story claims that the fiery legal battle "has been framed as the newest chapter in Hollywood's ongoing fight for gender equality" but also raises "another possibility, one that has less to do with gender equality than it does a simple cultural misunderstanding."

Yet Lively's rep further fired back that the story "is extremely offensive as it incredibly seems to explain away documented examples of sexual harassment and retaliation by calling them 'cultural misunderstandings.'"

Cover photo: IMAGO / Matrix

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