Social-media sentiment around actors Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni has taken a hit recently as their feud has escalated. Lively filed an 80-page complaint on December 21 accusing Baldoni of harassment and engaging in a smear campaign against her. In response, Baldoni filed a lawsuit against The New York Times, claiming libel and accusing Lively of running a negative PR campaign against him.
According to data from Sprout Social, the volume of social-media mentions of both stars increased significantly after Lively's complaint and the subsequent Times article. The analysis found that most of the commentary was negative towards both Lively and Baldoni.
Following the legal filings, negative sentiment surrounding both stars continued to rise. Lively saw a 29 percentage point increase in negative sentiment, reaching 61%, while Baldoni's positive sentiment flipped to mostly negative, increasing by 41 percentage points to 63%.
Both actors saw a fresh round of negative sentiment on social media after filing additional lawsuits against each other on December 31. Lively's negative sentiment increased from 39% to 52%, while Baldoni saw a similar jump from 42% to 52%.
In their legal filings, both Lively and Baldoni accused each other of using PR professionals to plant negative stories about them. Lively alleged that Baldoni's camp engaged in "astroturfing," a controversial PR tactic involving planting online comments to appear organic.
Overall, the data suggests that the feud between Lively and Baldoni has had a significant impact on public perception of both stars, with negative sentiment reaching its peak following the legal battles and accusations made by both parties.