Blake Lively Criticized For PR Move Straight Out Of Amber Heard's Playbook

The nasty feud between actress Blake Lively and director Justin Baldoni shows no sign of stopping. After a series of escalating tit-for-tat lawsuits filed from both parties — and sometimes even outside parties — Lively has officially hired a crisis PR manager. Considering the messy misstep her husband Ryan Reynolds took during the Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary show, this move may be better late than never. 

However, it has not stopped the online masses from criticizing the "Gossip Girl" star for taking a page out of the Amber Heard playbook. While Heard and her ex Johnny Depp were in the middle of their drop-down-drag-out defamation trial, the "Justice League" actress hired Shane Communications — a crisis PR firm — to help remold her public image to mixed success.

Now, according to Variety, Lively is following suit — and then some. The manager Lively has teamed up with is Nick Shapiro, a former CIA deputy chief. A member of Lively's legal team stated, "The litigation team for Ms. Lively retained Mr. Shapiro to advise on the legal communications strategy for the ongoing sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit occurring in the Southern District of New York." While this might be a smart move for "The Rhythm Section" star, it certainly has not helped her in the court of public opinion so far.

While there is certainly a shady side to Justin Baldoni, giving much of Blake Lively's accusations against him an air of credibility, it seems that Lively's choice to hire a crisis PR manager with government ties has not helped her public image. It's also worth mentioning that Baldoni has hired his own crisis PR manager. Per The Hollywood Reporter, he hired Melissa Nathan who represented Johnny Depp during his defamation trial with Amber Heard, so who took a page out of whose playbook is still up for debate. However, even with ample room to criticize Baldoni, many are still turning on Lively.

In response to the news that Lively hired Nick Shapiro, many took to social media to decry her choices. One user on X, formerly Twitter, said, "Just more collaboration from the worst people in the world. Way to go, Blake. Just keep digging that hole." Another poked at an even bigger wound the "A Simple Favor" star might be struggling with, posting "Khaleesi wannabe is expanding her league of dragons because her most famous dragon ditched her." This is a direct reference to Lively suffering another PR blow when "dragon" Taylor Swift seemingly cut her off. However all of this shakes out, it's clear that neither Baldoni nor Lively are interested in backing down any time soon.