MARY MORGAN: Justin Baldoni Became A Cautionary Tale For Delusional Male Feminists

Though Blake Lively’s #MeToo smears against Justin Baldoni are likely baseless, the ongoing drama represents the ultimate reckoning for male feminists.

The captivating legal battle between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard in 2022 became a cultural flashpoint marking the supposed death of the #MeToo movement. But to my surprise, Blake Lively resurrected #MeToo fervor in Hollywood by launching a lawsuit against her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni, leveling dubious allegations of sexual harassment and workplace hostility. Baldoni has since fired back with his own counter-suit, seeking an eye-watering $400 million in damages. But I ask: what gives this man the audacity?

In case you’re unfamiliar, let’s do a searching moral inventory on this rookie director’s public persona. For many years prior to facing accusations of sexual harassment, Justin Baldoni’s feminist bonafides remained uncontested, and he proudly billed himself as a male feminist. He hosts the ‘Man Enough’ podcast, which aims at “undefining traditional roles and traits of masculinity.”

Fortunately, scores of women have gotten wise to the deceptive tactics of self-professed male feminists, who (generally speaking) fashion a non-threatening disguise to get into women’s pants. But it appears, based on Baldoni’s public track record, that he is a true believer. (RELATED: Justin Baldoni Drags Taylor Swift Into Messy Battle Against Blake Lively: REPORT) 

Blake Lively shrewdly opened her amended complaint against Baldoni in his own words from a 2018 TED Talk titled “Why I’m done trying to be ‘man enough’,” in which he endorses the ‘believe all women’ mantra: “Are you confident enough to listen to the women in your life? To hear their ideas and their solutions? To hold their anguish and actually believe them, even if what they’re saying is against you? And […] will you actually stand up and do something so that one day we don’t have to live in a world where a woman has to risk everything and come forward to say the words ‘me too?’” Well, that sentiment aged like milk.

A February cover story from The Hollywood Reporter sheds more light on Baldoni’s deep commitment to the women’s movement. Baldoni was raised in a boutique religious faith called Baha’i. Core tenets of this niche belief system, also shared by a group of employees at Baldoni’s own production company Wayfarer Studios, include “reconciling religious belief with science and strict equality among men and women.” Former colleagues attest that Baldoni’s passionately-held religious beliefs wield a strong influence over his storytelling and community-oriented work style — to the point where it becomes a tad obnoxious.

Wayfarer’s billionaire benefactor Steve Sarowitz, another Baha’i follower, remarked in a recent interview that, “We think we’re one human family. It’s not like we need everyone to be Baha’i. We want to just spread these teachings of oneness. And so that’s what Wayfarer is doing.” During meetings, Baldoni and other Wayfarer executives encourage industry professionals to share something “private” that brings them “joy” that is unrelated to their jobs. A female executive felt “uncomfortable” with the gesture after meeting with Wayfarer last year: “In my head I was like, ‘I’m sorry, are we at Café fucking Gratitude?’”

Another former colleague of Baldoni’s noted “an openness and emotionality to his style that was more typical of a woman … But if you get a bunch of Teamsters together who are told that they should share their feelings, of course, someone is going to ask, ‘Why is he such a freak?’ But [Justin] genuinely believes that if we do this, we’ll work better as a group. There’s a little bit of an arrogance to it. It’s like he doesn’t want to acknowledge the world we live in.” Two sources recalled “an unusual amount of physical contact in the form of hugging among crew members.” (RELATED: Fake Loser Hollywood People Are Eating Each Other)

Baldoni’s gratuitous familiarity allegedly went beyond hugging — Lively’s lawsuit also claims that Baldoni boasted about communing with the dead, even revealing that he had contacted her late father. That tracks with Baldoni’s remarks about feeling “the nudge” of loved ones from the afterlife on a recent episode of Gent’s Talk.

Suffice to say, Baldoni’s leadership resembles a kindergarten teacher more than a ruthless, time-crunched auteur. This approach appealed to Gen-Z actress Isabella Ferrer, who portrayed a younger Lily Bloom in It Ends With Us. One text screenshot shows Ferrer heaping praise on Baldoni for creating a “safe space” on set: “I couldn’t have asked for a more welcoming environment.”

However, Baldoni’s attitude of deference, overwrought emotionality, and investment in accommodating the feelings of his colleagues left an enticing power vacuum on the set of It Ends With Us that Lively was all too eager to fill. One source who worked on the movie says that Justin “truly sees himself as this feminist. But Blake clearly got grossed out.”

It’s hard to blame Lively for treating Baldoni like a doormat. Based on what we know so far, he was practically begging to be steamrolled by a more forceful personality. And like all self-identified feminists, it’s safe to say that Lively doesn’t actually have any respect for a man who puts the feminist worldview into practice. Someone has to wear the pants in every relationship — be it romantic or professional.

As I see it, being a dyed-in-the-wool male feminist, man-bun and all, Baldoni ought to put his beliefs to the test. It’s only just that after challenging men to unquestioningly believe women, Baldoni would fall on the sword for the #MeToo movement as the target of Lively’s smear campaign. Although Baldoni seems to be winning in the court of public opinion, it would only be just for him to — figuratively — die as a martyr for his feminist worldview.

Rumor has it that Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds created the character of Nicepool in Deadpool & Wolverine with inspiration from Justin Baldoni’s touchy-feely, fuzzy-wuzzy persona. In one viral scene from the movie, Nicepool gets used as a human shield to absorb a shower of bullets fired by Ladypool, played by none other than Blake Lively.

The Hollywood power couple allegedly conspired together on the script to mock Baldoni. I relish the idea that they plotted a multi-million dollar inside joke to make a laughing stock of Lively’s pansy coworker. I don’t know about you, but I can only dream of finding someone who matches my exact level of petty toxicity and makes it into art. And it’s no secret that every woman wants her man to be in her corner, ready to publicly defend her — even if the facts aren’t on her side.

Forgive me if this sounds a little too harsh, but can you really expect me to feel bad for Justin Baldoni after he has paraded around his feminist beliefs for brownie points all these years? Men who cheerlead #MeToo pitchfork mobs shouldn’t be surprised if or when it comes back to bite them.

Regardless of how this explosive legal battle plays out, Baldoni is now presented with a massive opportunity to humble himself and admit that he was dead wrong. Whether he will issue a mea culpa remains to be seen, but if he does, I’ll give him his flowers.

Mary Morgan is a Gen Z cultural commentator and internet edgelord. Hear her takes on Pop Culture Crisis, a daily live show that deciphers the insanity of new social media trends and celebrity drama. Follow her on Instagram and X @maryarchived.