A co-star of Blake Lively had to skirt his way around an awkward interview at the Vanity Fair Oscars party at the weekend.
Brandon Sklenar, who starred alongside Lively and Justin Baldoni in It Ends With Us, was asked how he had been “supporting” Blake during the legal battle. However, he appeared to try to avoid the subject, describing the ordeal as “tough”.
Actor Sklenar then managed to stutter through the situation by turning it towards the larger message the film has and how it can impact the audience. “It’s a tough situation,” he began to tell the reporter.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, he said: “I just hope everyone remembers what the movie is about and why we made it in the first place. It’s about love and it’s about supporting women in general and helping people through tough times. And that movie’s helped so many people, and I just want people to remember like what it’s about and why we made it. And to kind of keep it on that. That kind of core ethos.”
It’s not the first time Sklenar has been posed with answering questions about the ongoing legal battle which comes after Lively, 37, filed a complaint alleging sexual harassment on the set of their film by Baldoni, 41, and the apparent smear campaign that followed.
Baldoni has continued to strenuously deny all allegations and hit back with a lawsuit of his own. Baldoni has counter-sued for $400 million, accusing Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, of civil extortion, defamation, and invasion of privacy.
Skelnar, who played Lively’s love interest in the hit film, has faced a number of questions since Lively first lodged the case. During an interview with Gayle King recently, he took a neutral stance when he was asked whose team he was on. “I’m Team It Ends With Us,” he told the 70-year-old presenter.
He again stuck to his stance that the movie’s message was the most important thing to focus on. “I have someone very close to me who’s gone through what [Lively’s character Lily is] going through for a long time and I’ve been on the front lines helping her navigate that space, so that movie meant a lot to me and it means a lot to her,” he explained. “It was one of the reasons that me doing that movie gave her the strength to change her life.”
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