‘It’s the misogyny slop ecosystem!’ How Candace Owens and the American right declared war on Blake Lively

Remember Johnny Depp v Amber Heard? If you thought that was ugly, wait till you see Blake Lively v Justin Baldoni. As the stars of It Ends With Us swap lawsuits over claims of sexual harassment, the conservative media has picked its side – and it’s not pulling any punches

Rarely has a film been so un-presciently named as It Ends With Us. This domestic abuse drama was released in August 2024 and was a huge success, earning over $350m worldwide. But that was only the beginning. What has followed is an offscreen conflagration that is not only threatening to consume the careers of the film’s lead actors, Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, but continues to set social media and the entertainment industry ablaze. We’ve still got a long way to go before it really ends – a trial is set for March 2026.

It’s easy to see why this case attracted so much attention initially – everyone loves a good celebrity dust-up – but having begun as just another Hollywood feud destined to be adapted into a prestige miniseries a decade hence, the Lively/Baldoni saga is morphing into something larger and possibly more ominous.