“For The Love Of God Read It”: It Ends...

Brandon Sklenar speaks out on the recent claims involving his It Ends With Us co-stars. Sklenar played Atlas in the popular 2024 romance movie, based on the Colleen Hoover novel of the same name. Leading the film were Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively, who played the roles of Ryle and Lily, respectively. Baldoni also was the movie’s director and reportedly had tension on set with co-star Lively. The underlying reason for this tension was recently revealed when Lively came forward with sexual harassment claims against Baldoni.

Now, Sklenar has responded to these unfortunate revelations about the It Ends With Us situation on Instagram.

Sklenar wrote a long response, with a screenshot included on Instagram. He began that the women who have worked on It Ends With Us “stand for hope, perseverance, and for women choosing a better life for themselves.” As such, he hoped that the recent news about Baldoni does not “detract from what [the It Ends With Us team‘s] intentions were in making this film.” As such, he encouraged people not to spread too much hate online. In addition, he encouraged people to read Lively’s complaint, in an Instagram story that can be found below:

What This Means For It Ends With Us

Others Have Come To Support Lively

Sklenar’s response graciously acknowledges the importance of the It Ends With Us story in the face of all this backlash. Most recently, this has taken the form of Lively’s lawsuit against Baldoni. She is accusing Baldoni and his production company of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment. The star also claimed that incidents on set needed to be escalated, requiring an “all-hands-on-deck meeting” to mitigate the issue.

Furthermore, this response also backs up how the cast responded when the movie was released in August. It was apparent that the cast avoided Baldoni during much of the press and promotion for the film, which was one of the factors that raised an eyebrow about the potential behind-the-scenes It Ends With Us feud between the director and Lively. The same New York Times article that Skelnar pinned addressed this, with the following:

As the film release neared, Ms. Lively and other cast members informed Sony and Wayfarer that they would not do any appearances alongside Mr. Baldoni. So did Ms. Hoover, the author, who had her own dissatisfactions with him and had become more upset after he told her about Ms. Lively’s allegations, according to text messages from Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Heath.

Sklenar is not the first person to bat for Lively following this news. Johnny Depp’s former partner Amber Heard also recently voiced her support, noting that the same PR team was used for It Ends With Us as was used by Depp in the defamation trial against Heard in 2022. Heard may not be involved in It Ends With Us, but she provides a valuable perspective as a woman greatly affected by bad PR practice. In addition, the movie’s studio Sony also spoke up on the issue, saying: “We applaud Blake Lively’s courage in speaking out on issues of retaliation…”

Our Take On Sklenar’s It Ends With Us Response

The Situation Complicates Opinions Of The Film

Sklenar responded in the best way he could, given this extremely complicated situation. Because of Baldoni’s deep involvement in It Ends With Us, it would be easy enough to effectively “cancel” the film. The subject matter, which is designed to empower women to leave abusive situations, makes the role of the film far more complicated within this legal issue. Sklenar’s response recognizes this by emphasizing the value that It Ends With Us can have for women.