These obviously AI-generated videos from slop accounts on YouTube were deployed around the same time that pro-Baldoni content creators like BocceGoHawks, Omar the Tilted Lawyer and Lauren Neidigh were posting regularly about this case.
A mod of a Justin Baldoni subreddit admitted that they personally messaged Sam Baldoni, promising to post about this case.
Coupled with obvious AI slop, and given that the case was never particularly popular, it seems obvious that this is likely yet another campaign by the Baldoni family, using all the same tactics: willing content creators and bots.
Expatriarch has posted a new video covering the mysterious Daily Mail article by Alison Boshoff.
The piece initially named Justin Baldoni's crisis publicist Melissa Nathan as the source, but was later edited to remove Nathan's name a few hours after publication.
The article alleged that MJ and Expatriarch have been bullying Nathan by making videos critical of Justin, which is confusing to say the least.
Since the article went live, we've seen multiple content creators, X users and Redditors attempting to jump aboard — using Boshoff's article as an excuse to discuss Expatriarch and MJ and accuse them of being paid by Ryan Reynolds in some shape or form with no proof.
Keeping in mind, of course, that the vast majority of pro-Baldoni content creators (and some Redditors) have now admitted to having some contact with Justin's friends, family, legal team, and PR team during the course of the case.
And given the speed at which the Daily Mail article was posted across multiple platforms, it also calls into question just how much of the public support of Baldoni has been a coordinated effort by his PR team rather than an organic outpouring of love from random individuals.
No matter what you think of the case, and no matter what you think of these individual content creators or content creators in general, it should concern people that Melissa Nathan and the Daily Mail can be so easily weaponized against, as Expatriarch states in his video, part-time TikTokkers with full-time jobs outside of making content.
Jones Road, owned by Bobbi Brown, recently sponsored a video on Kjersti Flaa's channel @flaawsometalk. She also currently holds a Jones Road affiliate code
Who is Kjersti Flaa?
Kjersti is a former journalist who has turned to YouTube and recently found viral fame profiting from misogynistic smear campaigns
Four years ago during the height of the hate train against Amber Heard she repromoted a years old interview with Johnny Depp, praising him as polite and sweet paired with #JusticeForJohnnyDepp.
She then has since made several videos in support of him and has even been in contact with him personally
This was not a one off, she has made a pattern of digging up old interviews to pile on women and profit
During Anne Hathaway’s recent career resurgence Kjersti reposted an interview from back during the Les Miserables promotional tour, calling her out for refusing to sing on command and calling it “bad behaviour”. The video attracted enough negative attention that Anne Hathaway had to call and apologise for what was imo an absolutely normal response to a weird interview question over ten years ago.
What sent Kjersti viral was reposting another decade old interview with Blake Lively, which she claimed made her “want to quit her job”. The “congrats on your little bump” interview that was latched on to as proof that Blake Lively was a mean girl and therefore her sexual harassment by Justin Baldoni didn't matter.
Since that video two years ago, she has nearly exclusively turned her channel to anti Blake Lively (and anyone she associates with) /Pro Justin Baldoni content. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of videos all peddling the worst kind of misogynistic stereotypes and disinformation. She even sells merch with "congrats on your little bump" and various pro Justin Baldoni slogans through her Etsy shop.
Why does this matter?
Jones Road, owned by Bobbi Brown, launched their “I Am Me” campaign 3 years ago celebrating Women's History Month and last year invited Gloria Steinem, among other prominent women, to take part in their “I Am Me” YouTube series discussing feminism, equality, and empowerment.
This is how the brand wants us to see it: feminist and empowering.
Yet it sponsors a channel dedicated to tearing women down and making money by doing it.
Gloria Steinem herself was a signatory on an Open Letter in Support of Amber Heard, along with hundreds of Anti Domestic Violence charities, experts, and noted feminists.
But somehow it's ok for Jones Road to pay creators that support abusive men🫠
Even worse, the specific video the sponsored content appeared in was aimed at discrediting two anti-VAWG advocate creators for their support of Blake Lively: Expatriarch, an anti misogyny educator and MoreWithMJ, a feminist lawyer and legal educator. Two people who are actively doing the work and promoting the values Jones Road claims to espouse.
But this is who Bobbi and Jones Road chose to support with their money: a creator whose content is in company with the likes of Andy Signore and Candace Owens. It honestly beggars belief.
On her recent video, titled "FULL PANIC !!", Kjersti Flaa shares information she gained from at least two pro-Baldoni Redditors who contacted her to claim that mass censorship was happening at Reddit due (according to them) to Blake's lawyers... or maybe Ryan. Or someone "acting in his interests". Or something.
They shared these concerns with Ms. Flaa, a journalist who was denied access to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association years ago due to an alleged campaign of bullying and harassment (along with concerns about racist behavior).
And Kjersti Flaa, being the consummate real journalist she is, took their accusations at face value, did not do any further research, and posted to her channel an AI-generated Reddit ban notice.
How do we know it's AI? The format and structure is wrong, but then if we zoom in further, there's also the very opening sentence which reads:
"Your account has been permanently banned for breaking Reddit".
Breathtaking stuff here from Flaa, the owner and operator of the YouTube channel Flaawsome Talk, as well as the Etsy store of the same name which sells t-shirts that read:
"I'm with Henry Grace", a typo meant to show support to Justin Baldoni who used the handle HennyGrace when making crisis PR plans with TAG and publicist Jen Abel.
Good work, Team Truth!
A couple of hours after the story was published, it was edited to remove Nathan's name. The screenshots are from the original version.
Note: Nathan is also alleged to have done PR work for The Alexander Brothers and Jeffrey Epstein.
Love the teamwork of people sharing the same screenshot, too!
And when do you think they'll admit TAG/Freedman/Jen Abel got them to talk endlessly about it?
Once again, a totally organic operation.
Flaa alleges that she was kept out by two reporters who worried that she'd compete with them for access to celebrities.
The HFPA says that Flaa had engaged in a multi-year campaign of harassment and bullying, and also cited racist remarks made to a South Korean actress when Flaa was on the press junket for Fantastic Beasts (image in comments).
So just as a reminder: Flaa has a history of harassment, racism, and literally lost a lawsuit after begging to be taken seriously as a journalist.
Another wonderful member of Team Baldoni.
- Around August 2024, the Daily Mail asked Vituscka to look into the rumored Baldoni/Lively on-set conflict
- In the course of his reporting, he reached out to Blake Lively's publicist Leslie Sloane, who said that Baldoni was the source of the conflict.
- Says Sloane never told him that Blake had been sexually assaulted or harassed.
- Two days after Lively's CRD complaint was made public, Vituscka texted Melissa Nathan to ask why Lively's publicist never mentioned the assault (though he claims this was a typo and he meant to say harassment)
- Says Sloane told him that the entire issue on set had nothing to do with Blake.
- On December 25, Vituscka texted Nathan and Freedman to reiterate that Sloane did not mention SH or SA. He was not told that any part of their correspondence would be published to the public via a court document.
- On December 31, Vituscka says that Freedman took his text to Melissa Nathan about Leslie Sloane out of context and then included it in Baldoni's original complaint to make it sound like Sloane *had* alleged sexual assault. Freedman included Vituscka's name and image as well.
- On January 2, Freedman redacted Vituscka's information.
- But then again on January 16, when Freedman sued Sloane and Lively for defamation, he again took Vituscka's quote out of context to allege that Sloane had accused Baldoni of sexual assault.
Same fan page that started the rumor that Blake Lively wasn't invited to the Met Gala (and fooled people who thought the real Met Gala had posted it).
You can also find TikToks from random creators in which they compare manon leaving KATSEYE to Blake Lively in IEWU.
But it's all organic, right?
If it's seemed oddly peaceful on Reddit, it's not your imagination.
Several blows were dealt to the pro-Baldoni crowd on this platform in the last few weeks.
They have admitted, at various moments, to being in a series of coordinated group chats — including a discord — where they plan and attack various users or inorganically flood this and other subreddits together to mass downvote or comment.
Their main ringleaders have nearly all been banned or removed from positions of power.
Their main platforms for SEO manipulation and harassment have received major warnings from Reddit admin.
We'll never know now how much of this was "organic", how much was done at the request of the Baldoni family, how much was done at the direction of paid PR professionals, and how much was just Bravo fans amusing themselves.
In many ways, it's one of the biggest disappointments of Blake settling the case. Because there was a chance we might have known the answers to these questions.
But as it stands, it is still worth asking: why were these coordinated attacks allowed to go on for so long, and how many interactions do we have on Reddit and other platforms that are similarly coordinated, manipulated and designed to silence particular voices?
Looks like some of the tabloids claiming Perez is saying "I need help" from his hospital bed are false. Whole situation is awful.