Blake Vigorous is receiving backlash for her really weird press tour.
The “Gossip Girl” alum is at the moment starring within the new movie, “It Ends with Us,” an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel of the identical title.
The movie, just like the e book, facilities round a flower store proprietor named Lily Blossom Bloom (Vigorous) who escapes the cycle of home violence whereas additionally partaking in a love triangle. The e book was met with controversy for romanticizing abuse, with an op-ed revealed to domesticshelters.org, a nonprofit that helps victims and survivors of abuse, saying it “feeds into the very structures of toxic masculinity that it purports to combat” by “romanticizing red flags” and glorifying a “charismatic-but-dangerous man.”
Jeff Spicer by way of Getty Photos
And as a substitute of talking out concerning the complexities of the subject material throughout her press tour — Vigorous, who additionally acts as one of many movie’s producers, has determined to advertise the movie prefer it’s a lighthearted rom-com.
HuffPost has reached out to Vigorous for remark, however didn’t obtain a direct response.
Her Instagram account is flooded with off-key promotional content material. One promotional video options Vigorous cross-promoting her glowing beverage firm, Betty Buzz, whereas fawning over a mini duplicate of her character’s flower store. She additionally dropped a random promo for her hair care line in between a number of posts for the movie.
However Vigorous’s most egregious social media publish, nonetheless, is on the film’s official TikTok account, during which Vigorous, sitting subsequent to Hoover, publicizes that “‘It Ends with Us’ is in theaters now, so grab your friends, wear your florals, and head out to see it!”
Dave Benett by way of Getty Photos
On pink carpets, Vigorous has been decked out in principally floral prints, and has been selling the “flower” side of her character’s career to such a level that it makes one surprise if she’s utilizing this press tour as a possibility to make up for skipping this 12 months’s garden-themed Met Gala.
There’s additionally the difficulty of Vigorous involving her husband, Ryan Reynolds, closely in her movie’s promotion — which appears like much more cross-promotion contemplating that Reynolds is at the moment peddling his new action-comedy “Deadpool & Wolverine.”
Cindy Ord by way of Getty Photos
Vigorous has spoken lovingly about her husband all through the press tour, and had her hubby conduct an interview with Vigorous’s co-star Brandon Sklenar — during which Reynolds talked completely about Sklenar’s butt.
However Reynolds isn’t simply concerned within the PR surrounding “It Ends with Us” — he additionally had a hand in writing the script, apparently. Vigorous advised reporters on the pink carpet of her film’s New York premiere that Reynolds wrote the “iconic rooftop scene” within the film — which was a shock to the movie’s screenwriter, Christy Corridor, who stated she thought the strains Reynolds wrote have been “improvised” throughout filming.
Vigorous’s breezy perspective whereas selling a movie about home violence is available in stark distinction to Vigorous’s co-star, Justin Baldoni of “Jane of the Virgin” fame. Baldoni — who directed the movie and performs Lily’s abusive companion, Ryle Kincaid — has centered his promotional interviews across the topic of home abuse and has actively championed the anti-domestic abuse nonprofit No Extra.
“The message is the most important thing. That’s why [Colleen] wrote the book,” he stated to Immediately on Friday. “I was always thinking about the outcome and the why, and the one woman I was making this for who would sit in that theater and maybe not go back to her abusive relationship.”
John Nacion by way of Getty Photos
Their clashing types is most obvious in a current interview Baldoni and Vigorous did with Jake Hamilton. In the course of the interview, Hamilton requested Vigorous an odd query — What would she say to a fan who noticed “It Ends with Us,” resonated with its story, after which stopped her on the street to speak about it.
“What’s the best way for them to be able to talk to you about this?” Hamilton requested. “How would you recommend they go about it?”
“Like, asking for my address, or my phone number, or, like, location share?” Vigorous responded jokingly, including: “I’m a Virgo, so like, are we talking logistics, are we talking emotionally?”
In the meantime, Baldoni appears to be visibly irritated with Vigorous’s foolish remarks.
Amid the backlash Vigorous has acquired for her bizarre PR vibes, she did publish an Instagram story Tuesday, during which she supplied a quantity to a home violence hotline.
“1 in 4 women aged 18 and older in the U.S. alone have been the victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime. Intimate partner violence affects all genders, including more than 12 million people every year in the United States. Everyone deserves relationships free from domestic violence,” she wrote within the story publish.
She additionally posted one other Instagram story to an interview she did with the BBC during which she notes that “It Ends With Us” covers home violence, however “what’s important about this film is that [her character is] not just a survivor and she’s not just a victim,” per Us Weekly.
Social media customers throughout platforms like Instagram, TikTok and X, previously Twitter, felt that Vigorous’s Instagram tales have been too little too late, and have been expressing their disgust with Vigorous’s habits. To see a few of their feedback, simply scroll down.
Need assistance? Within the U.S., name 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) for the Nationwide Home Violence Hotline.
