Megyn Kelly has shared her honest opinion on the recent footage featuring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni in their movie, It Ends With Us, following allegations of sexual harassment against Baldoni.
During an episode of The Megyn Kelly Show, the political commentator provided a critical analysis of a behind-the-scenes video, commenting that Lively appeared ‘very flirtatious’ in the clip.
In the eight-minute YouTube video, Kelly shows the short clip from the film which shows a dance scene between Lively, 37, and Baldoni, 40.
Kelly’s team asserts that the footage captures Baldoni’s actions, including leaning in towards Lively, trying to kiss her, kissing her on the forehead, nuzzling his face and mouth against her neck, touching her lip with his thumb, tenderly caressing her, complimenting her fragrance, and engaging with her in a manner inconsistent with their characters in the film.
But Kelly blasted these accusations as a ‘nothing burger’, claiming the actor and actress are ‘playfully acting for the camera, trying to make it look like two lovers, two people in a relationship are dancing with one another’.
The podcaster called Lively out for ‘giggling and holding hands and not speaking in character’ as the sound was not going to be used in the film.
‘They are in character and they are trying to make it look for the camera like they love each other,’ Kelly added.
‘She’s completely flirtatious with him, he is flirtatious back but they’re talking about their spouses and it’s all in good fun’.
In the clip that has now caused chaos in Hollywood, the pair are heard debating whether it is better to talk or kiss during the montage, with Lively arguing that chatting is ‘more romantic’ which Baldoni acquiesces to and then, when she wonders whether anyone will discover what they’re really talking about, quips ‘They’re never going to find out’.
Conversation then turns to their other halves, with Lively saying she and Reynolds talk ‘all the time’ while Baldoni says he and wife Emily stare at each other ‘for 10, literally like we’ve done it for five minutes’.
Lively then bursts into laughter as he tells her ‘I think you would find it terrifying’. When Lively continues to tell him about how she can’t stop talking to Reynolds, Baldoni compliments: ‘Oh, I think that’s cute. You guys are really cute.’
Awkwardly, she replies ‘I think it’s more than cute’ which he hastily agrees with, adding ‘I think you guys are amazing.’
Kelly slammed Lively following the sexual harassment accusations from the scenes within the clip, saying: ‘She wants us to believe this is actionable harassment what we just witnessed there, you tell me whether that’s what that looks like to you’.
Continuing on in her break down, Kelly said Lively alleges she in a MeToo victim following the scene.
‘That’s absurd, and I can tell you that is somebody who is not a Hollywood actress… this person is not an honest broker, I believe her less than ever, I actually disbelieve her fully now.
‘The truth should be out there, what does she have to fear if she’s telling the truth?’
Baldoni, who directed as well as acted in It Ends With Us, then says he wants them to be filmed almost kissing, at which Lively then continues to talk – insisting its more romantic to chat and not give the audience the smooch she says they want.
She continues to talk before saying ‘heads together’, prompting both to lean their foreheads against each other.
At that point, Lively begins talking about noses, telling Baldoni: ‘I feel so nosey. It’s just noses’.
Baldoni then tells her ‘my nose is so big’ to which she bursts into laughter, exclaiming: ‘Yes. I was hoping we could address this. Just got to shut down, gotta call an insurance month and just deal with that. Just kidding.’
The clip then continues into the second take, with Baldoni heard giving instructions to the crew and discussing the scene with Lively.
Then, just over seven minutes in, comes the critical conversation that appears to be the source of Lively’s accusation which begins when Baldoni asks ‘if I’m getting beard on you’.
She laughs and says ‘I’m probably getting spray tan on you’ to which he replies ‘it smells good’ and they both laugh.
Lively then tells him: ‘Well it’s not that, it’s my body makeup.’
As the extras erupt in cheers, Baldoni shouts ‘cut!’ and tells her they have enough for a 17-minute reel.
In her civil rights complaint filed last month, the actress insisted nobody overheard the comment because the romantic montage was silent and the microphones were switched off.Â
But DailyMail.com revealed Baldoni’s sound equipment was switched on – and exclusively obtained the explosive video showing the takes that smashed Lively’s claims into smithereens.Â
Following Lively’s claims, Baldoni sued the Times for defamation and, last week, launched a $400m lawsuit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds that accused her of using her celebrity power to hijack his film and attempt to torpedo his career.
In Baldoni’s suit, Lively is accused of failing to read the novel on which the book is based until long after filming had begun and orchestrating a negative publicity campaign of her own with the connivance of her own publicist Leslie Sloane and the New York Times.
During one incident, according to the legal filing, Lively attempted to intimidate Baldoni by pointing to her famous husband and close friend Taylor Swift then comparing herself to Game of Thrones character Khaleesi and telling him ‘I have a lot of dragons’.
The actress and her team are also accused of doctoring text conversations between Baldoni’s publicists to make them look damning and as if they’re plotting a smear campaign against her – which led to both being subjected to social media abuse when the edited texts were published.
Baldoni’s cross-complaint also revealed that he and his family had been forced to spend the premiere of It Ends With Us sitting in a basement because Lively refused to allow him to be in the same room as her.
