She posted a video of Blake Lively. Now this journalist is accused of helping smear the star

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's alleged on-set dispute during the filming of "It Ends With Us" ? once a matter of speculation ? has broken into the public square with a bang.

Lively, whose popularity plummeted during the movie's press tour, accused co-star and director Baldoni of sexually harassing her during filming and carrying out a subsequent smear campaign to keep her silent. The accusations, detailed in a lawsuit filed Dec. 31, became public in part thanks to an investigative story published by The New York Times.

Readers more fascinated by the blockbuster allegations Lively levied against Baldoni – and the accusation that she banned him from the premiere that he has lobbed in her direction since – may have missed a third, more tangential character, who is now speaking out to allege her role in the debacle was taken out of context.

Kjersti Flaa, a Norwegian entertainment journalist whose video "The Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job" became a lightning rod for hate against the actress, told USA TODAY in a statement emailed Monday that she had no formal connection with Baldoni's team.

"Considering that Lively's lawyers had access to thousands of pages of text messages and emails, it is hard to believe they were unaware that I had no involvement in the alleged smear campaign. This makes it all the more troubling that The New York Times chose to insinuate my involvement based solely on a hashtag from a Johnny Depp video on my YouTube channel from 2022," Flaa wrote in the statement.

USA TODAY has reached out to The New York Times for comment.

Uploaded Aug. 10, 2024, shortly after "It Ends With Us" hit theaters, Flaa's video shows a tense exchange between Lively and Flaa from a 2016 interview.

Flaa congratulates Lively, who was pregnant at the time, on her "little bump." Lively shoots back, "Congrats on your little bump." Flaa was not pregnant.

The interview became the conductor in a hate train against Lively as social media erupted with accusations of a "mean girl vibe," buttressed by distaste over the actress' emphasis on the lighter tones of the movie which chronicles an abusive relationship.

Lively's lawsuit alleges the narrative that emerged online was not organic but rather the result of a highly coordinated plan to "bury" her bankrolled by Baldoni and orchestrated by a crisis PR firm.

Flaa said that the Times had not reached out to her for clarification prior to publishing their story. "It is shocking that such a respected newspaper would publish a damaging conspiracy theory without contacting me for comment. This lack of due diligence has not only hurt my reputation but has also deeply affected me on a personal level," she wrote.

Baldoni swiftly sued the Times, positioning the two A-listers at odds and accusing the outlet of relying too heavily on Lively's narrative of events.

Flaa, who the Times profiled in October, became ensnared in that narrative when the story pointed out that she had also posted snippets from interviews with Johnny Depp during his trial, under the hashtag #JusticeForJohnnyDepp. Melissa Nathan, the PR expert and alleged architect of the purported Lively smear campaign, was also hired by Depp's team.

The "Pirates of the Caribbean" star's trial, in which he sued ex-wife Amber Heard for defamation after she accused him of domestic abuse and sexual assault, saw an influx of online hatred against Heard. TikTok and Instagram were awash with videos accusing Heard of faking tears in an algorithmic takeover similar to the one against Lively seen this past summer.

"Of course, my video didn't put (Blake Lively) in a good light," she told the Hollywood Reporter in a story published Friday, adding she was "sure" Baldoni's team "were happy about that."

"But at no point did anyone contact me from his team or from (Blake's) team. The thing is, she smeared herself in that video, and people reacted to it online. (The reason) for her becoming unpopular is because of her own behavior," she told the outlet.

Baldoni's team is employing a similar tactic, arguing the accusations against the actor were taken out of context and that Lively's legal action is merely hitting back against her own organic unpopularity.

"No negative press was ever facilitated, no social combat plan, although we were prepared for it as it's our job to be ready for any scenario," Baldoni's publicist Jennifer Abel told Rolling Stone. "But we didn't have to implement anything because the internet was doing the work for us."

Contributing: KiMi Robinson

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Blake Lively smear campaign: Journalist Kjersti Flaa speaks out