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Bart Johnson and Blake Lively
(Bart Johnson / Instagram)

‘High School Musical’ Star Bart Johnson Slams Justin Baldoni as a ‘Fraud’ and Blasts His ‘Gross and Disgusting’ PR Campaign Against Blake Lively

After Blake Lively brought the lawsuit against her It Ends With Us costar and director Justin Baldoni for alleged sexual harassment and a smear campaign, her family, friends, and coworkers have voiced their support. The latest to do so is High School Musical star and Lively’s brother-in-law, Bart Johnson.

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Johnson, who played Jack Bolton, father to Zac Efron’s Troy Bolton and coach of the East High basketball team in Disney’s High School Musical films, is married to Blake Lively’s half-sister, Twin Peaks actor Robyn Lively. When people on social media debated the truth behind Lively’s allegations against Baldoni, which came out months after their highly public feud, Johnson made sure he came out and defended his sister-in-law.

Commenting on an Instagram post by The New York Times about the complaint filed by Lively against Baldoni, Johnson wrote, “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.” 

He also urged people that before they draw their conclusions, they read the NYT article, which detailed text and email exchanges between Baldoni and his PR team discussing strategies on how to “bury” Lively, and even citing examples like a negative X thread about Hailey Bieber that they could use to malign Lively’s image. “His PR team was stellar. Gross and disgusting but highly effective,” Johnson wrote. “Read the article, their text message exchanges and his PR campaign strategy to bury her by any means necessary. No one is with out faults. But the public got played.”

As per a complaint filed by Lively, she claims that “behind closed doors, she has suffered from grief, fear, trauma, and extreme anxiety,” due to alleged “repeated sexual harassment and disturbing behaviour” by Justin Baldoni and lead producer Jamey Heath. The complaint details that Baldoni’s behaviour had “nearly derailed production. A meeting was even called to address this, in which Lively gave pages of detailed safeguards to be put into place if she were to return to shoot. Lively attended the meeting with husband Ryan Reynolds, Baldoni, and both parties’ lawyers.

The demands included hiring a full-time intimacy coordinator, no more discussing with Lively or any other employee on set about Baldoni’s sexual encounters or showing them nude visuals of women, including the producer’s wife, no more mentions of Baldoni or Heath’s previous “pornography addiction. There was also a stipulation that Baldoni not talk to Lively about “speaking to her [deceased] father.” 

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In the legal complaint, Lively claims both production houses – Sony Pictures and Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios—agreed to her demands. However, soon after, Baldoni allegedly attempted to mount a public smear campaign against her to malign her image. 

Friends, family, coworkers, and fellow actors, including Gwyneth Paltrow and Amy Schumer, voiced their support for Lively. Her half-sister and Johnson’s wife Robyn Lively shared an Instagram story about the NYT article, encouraging people to read it, and captioning it, “Finally justice for my sister, Blake Lively.” 

It Ends With Us author Colleen Hoover, and Lively’s costars Jenny Slate and Brandon Sklenar voiced support on social media, with the latter sharing the NYT article and asking people to “For the love of God, read this.” Michele Morrone, Lively’s costar in the upcoming A Simple Favor 2 also shared a video on Instagram where he talked about feeling Lively’s pain during the shoot, and sharing the article link so people would read it before commenting “cruel and bad” things about her. A Simple Favor Paul Feig also expressed his support for Lively on X.

Blake Lively’s Sisterhood of Travelling Pants costars and close friends Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera, and Amber Tamblyn put out a joint statement “In support of our sister, Blake,” calling out the hypocrisy around It Ends With Us being the story about a domestic violence survivor, while the campaign around it was used to “silence a woman who asked for safety.”

A surprising yet expected voice of support came from Amber Heard, who first-hand experienced what a smear campaign could do to a woman’s reputation. The actress, who has withdrawn from Hollywood and lives in Spain after her public defamation trial against ex-husband Johnny Depp, spoke about how social media can be used to promote lies and the damage it can do. “I saw this firsthand and up close. It’s as horrifying as it is destructive,” she said.


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Image of Jinal Bhatt
Jinal Bhatt
Jinal Bhatt (She/Her) is an editor, film and culture critic with 7+ years of experience in writing on entertainment, pop culture trends, and women in film. Jinal writes for The Mary Sue, is the former Associate Editor for Hauterrfly, and Senior Writer for Mashable India. When not working, she’s fangirling over her favourite films and shows, gushing over fictional men, cruising through her neverending watchlist, trying to finish that book on her bedside, and fighting relentless urges to rewatch Supernatural.