The Hollywood Reporter’s latest issue, depicting Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni at war with one another, has sparked furious backlash for making light of her sexual harassment lawsuit.
After the publication released the controversial cover, showing the actress, 37, slinging a cellphone at Baldoni, 41, as he clutched a copy of It Ends with Us, X users were quick to call of the magazine for poking fun at the pair’s bitter legal battle.
The cover artwork was a biblical reference to the story of David and Goliath in the Bible, in which a small shepherd boy defies the odds by taking down a giant.
‘The audacity to turn this whole case into a joke is f**king alarming. I stand with Blake Lively because I believe her… I don’t care if people say she’s not a perfect victim or whatever bulls**t – it really doesn’t matter. Predators should be punished,’ one tweeted.
A second wrote: ‘Incredibly inappropriate. You have a responsibility as a publication, but time and time again yours has trivialized sexual harassment and assault, among other horrible things.’
‘Something is actually deeply wrong with your publication that you thought this disgusting cover was even remotely appropriate. This is disturbing,’ a third fired.
A fourth asked: ‘Did you forget that this entire case is about sexual harassment in the workplace?’
Others called the cover ‘truly disturbing & a shameful mockery.’
The Hollywood Reporter’s latest issue, depicting Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni at war with one another, has sparked furious backlash for making light of her sexual harassment lawsuit
