Lively v. Baldoni 44 - Can I Get Your Autograph on This Nudity Rider

Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors — the audio is the record.

0:00:01 Clip: All rise. Court is now in session. Court is reconvened. I may be seated. Maintain order. The federal rise to face the jury and harken to its verdicts.

0:00:25 Thomas: Gavel in, gavel heads, it is I, I'm Thomas. That over there is Lydia.

0:00:30 Lydia: Hi there.

0:00:30 Thomas: We are on, this is, I don't even want to say. I'm too embarrassed to say what part this is of Wayfair v. Lively, but I will say it's part 10. We're on part 10, one of those was going through the voicemail, which I think counts.

0:00:33 Lydia: This is the show. Mmm.

0:00:46 Thomas: It wasn't officially part of the complaint per se, but it was part of The Adventure. Adventure yeah so we are on part 10 yeah and extra credit I think yeah and uh what are we going to be talking about today where do we leave off

0:00:44 Lydia: Oh, God. It was a full deserved part. Yes. Yeah. We get credit for that. Yeah, we all get credit for that well.

0:01:02 Lydia: Well, as as we chatted about in the outro of the last episode today, we are going to be discussing the birth video. Yes, when Jamie Heath basically approached Blake Lively with his phone displaying the birth video from his wife and Blake was not sure what was being presented to her. We're going to be talking about that some more, but in different ways, I think. So there's some like additional information we got from this complaint and I'm excited to get into that. And then we'll continue on through our 17 point list. Keep moving through. So, yeah.

0:01:36 Thomas: We'll see how far we get all right well looking forward to that we'll take a quick break support the show patreon .com slash gavel gavel slash Gavel Gavel that's where you can get the goodies you can gets the episodes way early usually and you can talk to us as much as you want much as we want no I'm just kidding that's probably a lot actually but uh it could have been taken in a negative way that's where you can sound off tell us how you feel how you just talked to us day to day and you can avoid the auto ads one of which or who knows how many of which you might hear right now or zero of which if you're lucky to be in an area where they don't try to do ads for I don't know what determines that but if you're out in the middle of nowhere they're like we can't sell anything to that person we're not even gonna try to insert ads well they have such a huge fucking budget that they probably will. They're trying to, those are everywhere. Those ice ads go to outer space now. And if you get an ice recruitment ad, what it means is they're spending good money to try to recruit people who are not going to join ice. So that's the best place for them. I truly wish all of their ice ads were on our shows. I would take all of them and then they will get zero recruitment and we'll have spent the money. And I get it might be a little counterintuitive and I get everybody's really mad about hearing those ads. But when you think about it, it's the better place for for them. There's no better place. They have a budget of a jillion dollars of fascism to spend on ICE recruitment. Would you rather they spend at places where that'll work or not work?

0:01:54 Lydia: And that's a promise. Mm hmm. Yeah, not even ice.

0:02:36 Lydia: Yeah we're going to do like the digital equivalent. Yeah yeah because they're going going to be spending it

0:03:06 Thomas: So I'm always like, it's great. Yeah. It's getting spent regardless. The ads are getting spent because they're not going to be shut out of the market or something that's not happening. So, and we can't do anything about it anyway. So there you go. If it was anything where it was like, this might trick people into something, but I don't think we're, I don' t think anyone's tricking our audience into joining ICE. I don't think that's happening. Anyway, patreon .com and enjoy some ICE recruitment ads. And we'll see you after the break.

0:03:20 Lydia: You guys are way too smart yeah all right

0:03:39 Ad: [Ad break 1 — ad music]

0:03:39 Thomas: All right. Well, the birth video, we've talked about this at length and it's absolutely dog shit. Like there's no, no way that what they're saying makes sense. Lively's version is far more plausible and makes sense, the thing that just gets me is how much they think posting one still from after the birth in the birthing video just completely makes a liar out of her it's like that that really was one of the first things where I'm like oh okay people just don't like women like they're just going to take what's so obviously misdirection because he there's no way he was showing her a video of after the baby was born like the point was the delivery like the whole scene was about the delivery and how she stripped off her clothes when you know the baby was born or that's what baldoni said about about his wife or whatever. It's about the delivery, not about it's already done and they're just sitting there in the water. Like why would, why would even show her that? It doesn't make sense. Also, if the point, the whole point was trying to get her to like take her clothes off, which they didn't really dispute. They kind of sidestepped that, right? I'm trying to think, like, did they ever say like, no, we didn't want her to be nude. They sort of just said she wasn't nude, but that she also agreed that, because

0:04:28 Lydia: And cuddling the

0:04:47 Thomas: She put her foot down and was like, I'm not going to to go like full nude, but we'll do a compromise. But anyway, there's no reason he would have shown her a video under their theory of it. It doesn't even make any sense.

0:04:46 Lydia: Baby right yeah I mean we've talked about kind of some of the high level points here that we've discussed was that it was a water birth versus lake lively's delivery in the film was a hospital birth they're so different they're just so so so different They had already finished filming that scene That was another, you know, top level point that we had made, too. So why is he coming to show her a video of supposedly the director's creative vision for the scene that they've already done and would not be reshooting as far as we know? That doesn't seem to make sense either. Yeah.

0:05:27 Thomas: We've said it all before, but they keep doing this thing where she called it porn. And it's like, no, according to her story, Heath comes up with a like, put this in your face, you know, and it's naked people, like full spread woman, like about to give birth. And she says, whoa, what is this porn? Like she, you knows, that's her reaction.

0:05:46 Thomas: And then he's like trying to get all insulted to characterize this image that captures such a beautiful moment with their newborn baby shared with the consent of his wife for purposes of the film as a naked photo or worse porn it's deplorable that's actually what they wrote in here so fucking stupid yeah

0:06:00 Lydia: And I think the other point that we had made, too, just to remind folks was that if this were a regular nine to five workplace, even just a coworker coming up and shoving like naked pictures in front of your face. Yeah, it's harassment, let alone someone who's in a position of power, because this is a producer of the film. This is the president or CEO of the studio, I guess, at the time. The studio at the time. And so now you have someone who's kind of your boss now. Imagine that at work. Your boss is coming over and putting naked pictures, naked video in front of you without any explanation, any request for consent before you view that stuff. Like it's highly inappropriate. Bottom line, end of story. That's just what it is.

0:06:14 Thomas: We have a word for that yeah yeah yep there's no reason what's interesting here is he does say nonetheless lively did not object and asked to see the video after she ate having managed to quote convince the director to write and shoot the scene according to her specification.

0:07:01 Lydia: That sentence makes no sense to me.

0:07:02 Thomas: Yeah, that's a confusing one.

0:07:05 Lydia: Also, like, wouldn't you say something like that if you're trying to keep the peace and want want someone to leave you alone?

0:07:09 Thomas: Yeah. And then did she ever? Was it? Oh yeah. Later. And dann did she have her? I don't know.

0:07:14 Lydia: Yeah, I don't know. Doesn't say.

0:07:14 Thomas: It doesn't say. Maybe that was just something she said. All right. Well, and like a children's book, it has to be like, and still they agreed because they were so scared that she would leave or something. Number six is pretty simple. No one will enter and attempt to enter, interrupt, pressure, request entrance to BL's trailer while she was in the state of undress for any reason.

0:07:33 Lydia: And they simplify that. No one to enter Lively's trailer while she was undressed.

0:07:38 Thomas: The suggestion that this ever happened is illogical and categorically false. Why is it illogic?

0:07:44 Lydia: It's not illogical.

0:07:44 Thomas: Yeah, that's stupid.

0:07:46 Lydia: Just leave it categorically false. Like it can it can be a simple sentence.

0:07:48 Thomas: I know. Well, again, we got to poison the well against hysterical, illogica women, you see. It's not illogical. It either happened or it didn't. There's no logic that would dictate whether or not that happens. Fucking stupid. No one would or did enter life. Again, it's like your defense is like, like, well, people don't sexually harass other people, so this is silly.

0:08:09 Thomas: Okay. Oh, I love this. Regrettably, while accommodating Lively, Baldoni and Heath were led into situations that would later be characterized as harassment. They referenced the invited to your trailer to work on lines. We've covered that way too many times. Not going to get into it. We're already done this. Not only have we already done this 10 times, we've done it in this complaint, right? Yeah.

0:08:28 Thomas: Lively was not top. Yeah. Again, this is, I don't find their story convincing. We We've already talked about this. So the main story is about Heath as we covered, but she does also say throughout filming, Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Heath invaded Miss Lively's privacy by entering her makeup trailer uninvited while she was undressed, including when she was breastfeeding her infant child. So it does have that sentence, but I was going to say that it mainly was about Heath, but I guess she does include him there. You wanted to read 105?

0:08:52 Lydia: Get ready for this folks. Lively suggestion that not one but two Two professional and conscientious men barged into her trailer several times or attempted to enter or pressured her to allow them to enter offends not only their long -established integrity, but the sanctity of their vows to their wives and their dedication to their children and families.

0:08:59 Thomas: One, sure, but two? How long is it established? This guy's been in the industry for like a minute. It has nothing to do. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. So why are you bringing them up?

0:09:20 Lydia: Yeah, Lively is aware that both men are incredibly supportive and respectful of motherhood, to say the least. Heath's wife is a vocal advocate for postpartum mothers. Baldoni's wife co -founded a company that designed a breastfeeding garment, a prototype that originated with his mother when he was an infant. Baldoni had gifted Lively One. While those facts would never be an excuse for barging in unannounced, yeah, because it's jack -off motion time, it is indicative of the nature of their relationship with and respect for women. Simply put, such allegations are categorically false claims that would have been wildly out of character if they were true. Maybe examine that then, because I feel like there's elements of this that seem pretty accurate.

0:09:42 Thomas: Yeah. No, it's not. It's absolutely not. Yeah, yeah, well, at least did they get rid of the like, oh, they have all the they're so comfortable with breastfeeding women, which is one of the worst parts of the first complaint. All right. Point seven. There shall be no rehearsal or filming of any nudity and or simulated sex without the nudity writer in place. Any such footage previously shot without the nude writer in place and in direct violation of SAG requirements may not be used without BL's and her legal representatives prior written consent. This one's interesting. That was Lively's list.

0:10:27 Lydia: So, right. And they phrase this as no filming nude or sex scenes except per nudity rider and no use of prior nude scenes without nudity writer. This, yeah, here's where they make the claim that she never signed a nudity ride during the first phase of production and never signed her employment agreement. And I know like the Internet has been ablaze about this. Right. But I have to think if that were a problem, then wouldn't you just not commence filming?

0:10:51 Thomas: Yeah, this one, I feel like at this point, we don't have the information for this, but if you're somebody who thinks she's a psychopath liar, then you can make up all these things that this probably is. I think that while it's possible people often don't get to stuff or disorganized or whatever, I feel like given how much experience she has, like tons and tons and tones of experience and a legal team and all this, like there's got there's gotta be something here because she says, OK, why don't you just start reading 106?

0:11:14 Lydia: Right. Yeah.

0:11:21 Thomas: And because there is some interesting stuff here. This is something we haven't explored that much.

0:11:21 Lydia: Lively was provided a nudity rider, approved by the SAG intimacy coordinator, and was given ample opportunity to provide notes before production commenced. Despite constant pursuit over several months, Lively's attorney never produced notes, and Lively not only didn't sign the nudity writer during the first phase of production, but never even signed her employment agreement. Her main concern, while Wayfarer's lawyers were all but begging for signatures, was ensuring her fee was deposited into escrow. In order to move forward, they had to pay her fee even though she hadn't signed her agreements.

0:11:55 Thomas: OK, maybe that's how the agreement goes. I don't know. I'm not sure. Like, I just feel like giving the amount of lawyers going on here, there's Got to be something And it might be, again, a product of wayfarers and experience and inability to manage a film. If this is a problem, they just need to say, hey, well, we we're not going to continue until you sign this and then sign it. You know, like like you can't you can just be running scared all the time about the whatever. Like if it really is an issue. You yeah yeah if there was any problem that this was causing for real then the lawyers or somebody in a real company would be like no you can't you literally can't do stuff until this is figured out so I

0:12:04 Lydia: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, and then they hadn't even started filming yet. Just recast it then. If it's if it's that severe of an issue and, you know, you're dealing with somebody who's like, I'm not signing this until, you know, X, Y, Z, blah, blah. And that's a problem. Then just recast them. There's no contract in place. Like, I don't know. I feel like that would have been simple. Right.

0:12:52 Thomas: Just don't know what's going on here I think we need more information because it doesn't make sense to me the version of the story that's like well how could she complain when she hadn't even signed it therefore this doesn't even make sense like as though her not signing it was like the causal reason for the stuff that she found to be sexually harassing like there's no way that's true That's just not true because that's just not how women work. It's not how human beings work.

0:13:07 Lydia: To be sexually harassed. Yeah, yeah, Yeah. I would also be curious about I mean, because like what that boils down to also is employment law and contract law. Right. And I would be curious to see if they continued on with filming. Wouldn't that be implied agreement from both parties as to whatever was.

0:13:31 Thomas: Signatures aren't magic. That's, that's always how it is. Like there's a bunch of contract law about this and not signing isn't a magic thing. That doesn't work. You can't induce somebody. Then, then you actually have a legal claim, you know, and actually it's interesting. Is any part of his legal case? None of it was this, because if this was real, talk about a breach of implied, in fact, implicit, whatever the bullshit he tried to pull with New York times, which was the dumbest lawsuit I've ever seen in my life. Implied in fact, whatever. That's what that actually is. So if this had been a stringing him along and not signing something and there had actually been harm caused by that, he could have sued her over that and should have if it actually was something she was doing. But I don't even think that was part of his actual claims.

0:14:03 Lydia: Yeah. Well, yeah. And like talk about something that's easy to prove. You have the contracts with no signatures. Well, okay. There you go.

0:14:17 Thomas: Yeah, that's pretty easy. So this sounds like not a problem at all. And the nudity rider thing is interesting. Like my first impression reading over it was like maybe they just took too long to get it over to her and approved. And like that took the lawyers a while to review.

0:14:33 Lydia: I mean, and there's like so many rules about if you want to make changes to the nudity rider, there's elements of timelines that have to be approved there. I don't know if there's extended time for, yeah, I mean like she at least had 48 hours, but I don't

0:14:49 Thomas: Yeah, it says, OK, they gave her the nudity rider May 8th or her counsel. Again, she's she's got she's lawyered up already. I don't I don'T think the lawyers are trying to pull off like not signing tricks like that's just not going to be happening. They said they'd like it signed by May 11th on May 12th. I actually looked at the calendar to see. So May 8th was a Monday and May 12th is a Friday. Lively's attorney finally responded that they were reviewing it. Yeah, I mean, like attorneys are busy. You know, I think it's it's, it might be a question of get your attorney this. This isn't like litigation. This Isn't like a court deadline. This is like, you need to review this. It's not like the lawyers are on call, you know, they have other stuff to do. So maybe they needed to get this in sooner. I don't know.

0:15:14 Lydia: Know if They show us this email communication. Right. So May 8th is when they sent the nudity rider and Lively's counsel responds immediately asking for written approval from the intimacy coordinator coordinator for the nudity rider itself. And then the intimacy co -ordinator responded the following day, May 9th. Mm hmm.

0:15:53 Thomas: Yeah. That day, actually. Oh, well, hold on. Now, is that just the intimacy coordinator responding to Wayfair? It is. So when did they, we don't, they actually don't show us when Wayfairy provided that confirmation. Okay. Just to make sure this is clear for everybody. Buddy. So if they're claiming, hey, we gave it to your council May 8th and we wanted it signed by May 11th, but you didn't even respond until May 12th or something.

0:16:25 Thomas: And then we look at their own exhibit, their own exhibit. May 8, it says, hey here's the nudity writer. That same day, as you point out, Lively's council says, Hey, do you have the part where you had like the, obviously the intimacy coordinator has to approve it or whatever. So what they show us next is the intimacy coordinator getting back to Wayfair Council on May 9th. And then, yeah, that's right. And then on May 10th, that is when

0:16:41 Lydia: May ninth in the evening. Yeah, right. Right Right.

0:16:50 Thomas: Wayfairy Council finally sends what they actually should have sent on May 8th to them. So, like, this is all, yeah.

0:16:56 Lydia: That's your baseline now for counting. Yeah. Right.

0:16:57 Thomas: Exactly. This is bullshit, like work stuff, like office stuff, but they did not get them the thing they needed until May 10th. They fucked up and sent them the wrong thing May 8. And, then they are trying to say like, we sent it May 8th, but like they actually only got everything over on May 10th. And then it sounds like the lawyers took a few days and then maybe they were busy. I don't know on May 12th. They're like, okay, we're reviewing it, which is again, that's two days difference in, in they're trying and that's their fault. Like it's two day's difference. That's Wayfarer's fault. And they're Trying to pin it on lively. Yeah. Well, it has to be 48 hours before

0:17:29 Lydia: Also, two days equals 48 hours. So sounds like it's kind of in line with.

0:17:36 Thomas: A shoot, I guess. And so they're saying, then they say that there weren't any intimate scenes shot that that week anyway. So I don't even know ultimately what the issue is here. I think this is more, you'll never guess, obfuscation and trying to just cast confusion. Because like I've said before, with a lot of these demands, it wasn't like with the intimacy coordinator. The demand wasn't, hey, we need to have an intimacy coordinator on set all the time because Lively had previously asked for that and they didn't do it. That wasn't exactly it .That was her saying, well, now that you fucked up and I don'T trust you, now I want the intimacy coordinator there all the time. And Wayfair parties tried to respond like, she never asked for that. She had never asked for the, you know, and it's like, yeah, she hadn't, but now she is. Exactly. They're deliberately misinterpreting it to make her look insane at all times. Yeah. It's not an accident. This is what dirtbag attorneys do. They find ways to cast everything in a different light, you Know, and normal attorneys do this too. And there are places where I'm sure Lively's attorneys have done this a little bit, but this is their entire fucking thing. It's just nonstop that.

0:18:14 Lydia: Right because of the environment you guys created. Yeah, I think I think deliberately is really an important word there, too. It's not just misrepresenting or anything like that. Like this, it's purposeful. Yeah yeah just a quick note on because as we're talking about like not having signed contracts and things they do include a footnote here that I think a lot of people just glossed over myself included I guess for a period of time uh wayfair so footnote 20 on page 63 when working with an actor who may take time to sign the main actor agreement it is customary to send a certificate of engagement to protect the copyright of the film wayfaire negotiated the terms of said certificate of engagement but though it was approved by lively's council never received a signed copy but so they have approval I imagine written via email that they can fall back on just didn't receive a signed copy of this particular thing

0:18:55 Thomas: Hmm. Who did where, which thing? Hmm. Yeah. Yeah, which in contract law, that's going to be enough there. You're not going to like, you're not gonna like get away. There's no signatures aren't magic. You know, there's no way to just like there's there's there's things here and there. It'S really complicated. I mean, I know lawyers listening with no contract lawyers, and it'S the subject of many bar exam questions I've gotten wrong. I thought I was better at contracts than I was. And then I reviewed my scores. I was like, oh, shit, that's one of my worst scores. That's because like the shit they ask you is always the most like obscure points of it. You know, it's always the like the exceptions and the whatever.

0:19:55 Thomas: But broadly speaking, you can't just pull a trick by not signing something. You know again, they would have cause to sue if there had been any actual harm with this. I don't even know what now that I think about it. Why are we even talking about her contract or her engagement thing? That's not even in her complaint. She just said in her demands she said hey we're not shooting anything until we have the nudity writer in place she says any such footage previously shot without the nudie writer in place so that means some was shot without it in place now okay I think what's going on here is once again it's more of exactly what I've already said it's the same I think I'm guessing it's the same thing as went on with the intimacy coordinator where she said there wasn't an intimacy coordinator and they said well it's because there's no intimate scenes and she said Yeah, but there were, though, because it was a birthing scene where you try to get me to be nude and they aren't counting that as intimacy. And so that's their way of saying, look at this hysterical woman. She's claiming there's intimate scenes there weren't. And

0:20:12 Lydia: Right right right yeah

0:21:01 Thomas: They jumped the gun and tried to, like, insert nudity into stuff before. That, in her opinion, you know, she alleges. And that's why, that's why it wasn't signed and executed yet. Cause it wasn'T supposed to be then. And so this is more of them saying like, there weren'T any intimate scenes shot. There weren'T any nudity scene shot, whatever, because they're not counting the birthing scene and the other thing that she complained about. Right. That's very specific, isn't it?

0:21:52 Lydia: They they do pull that same kind of tactic like the intimacy coordinator piece where they say the demand also stated that any footage previously shot without the nudity rider in place may not be used without her legal representative's consent despite the fact that no simulated sex had been filmed yet yeah

0:21:52 Thomas: And I hadn'T even seen that, which very much vindicates what I was just saying. So where is that? What page is that on? Yeah. That's very, very specific, isn't it? Good catch.

0:21:57 Lydia: Uh it's paragraph 108 yeah it's it's the same pull yeah

0:22:05 Thomas: Any footage, despite, okay, here we go. That is one where you can, and they put it in italics, despite the fact that no simulated sex had been filmed yet. Boy, that is very specific. Isn't it a good catch, hun? That is exactly what a lawyer would do. Oh, you are saying, but there had not even been, again, she is alleging that you made scenes that were not intimate scenes. You made them intimate scenes inappropriately. That was what she is allegeing. And so, for you to keep saying, saying, well, there weren't any. Yeah, there weren't, except the ones you did inappropriately. Yeah.

0:22:15 Lydia: Yeah yep per the script yeah per the manuscript there weren't supposed to be any yeah

0:22:35 Thomas: And despite the fact that no simulated sex had been filmed yet, that's really, really interesting, isn't it?

0:22:40 Lydia: But the nudity rider is not about sex solely it's about nudity

0:22:45 Thomas: Right? And you'll also note that her complaint doesn't rely on that. Her complaint wasn't, hey, you know, the sex scenes we shot don't use, it doesn't say that. It says any footage. It Says there shall be no rehearsal or filming of any nudity and or simulated sex, yeah. Yeah. And she complained about that. Right. Yep. And it's not simulated sex. So the good catch, that's exactly what these fucking dirtbags do.

0:22:53 Lydia: You can't use them yeah exactly exactly right right and we know the birth scene happened before they took that break yep

0:23:11 Thomas: And then they do the thing. Wait, we had already.

0:23:13 Lydia: They talked about this before

0:23:13 Thomas: Okay. Yeah. We aren't repeating ourselves, right? It says, in fact, only one scene involving simulated nudity had even been filmed. And It was a scene that Lively knew of well in advance, given that she wrote it herself, blah, blah. Knew it was filmed. I think that's the bathtub scene. We already did this though. Why did they? Whatever. Okay. I guess they just did. Well, it's to my point. They did the exact same thing that they did with the intimacy coordinator. It's the same point.

0:23:16 Lydia: Yeah yeah

0:23:41 Thomas: Well, no, I think they're saying it's not

0:23:43 Lydia: I mean but that's confusing though because it's also but we know the birthing scene happened before and that was simulated nudity oh oh because they have to kind of keep towing that line right that that she was wearing black briefs or whatever

0:23:45 Thomas: Or something. Yeah. Yeah, or they're, yeah, simulated. That's a good point. Actually, that is, hmm.

0:23:50 Lydia: Yeah I think it's supposed to be simulated I mean I would I would assume it's simulated.

0:23:53 Thomas: Yeah I think they slipped it. No, you're right. You're right, that has to be simulated nudity. I think maybe they slipped up and they were trying to talk about the simulated sex thing. Yeah because it, you can't, look, I think both parties would agree if you watch the fucking birthing scene, there is simulated nudie in that, right?

0:24:02 Lydia: There would have to be. You would have to simulate being nude if the action is that a baby is coming out of your body, you have to at least portray that it's possible and not that a baby's going to come out into your underwear. Yeah.

0:24:13 Thomas: Yeah, you are not showing full vagina, like, yeah. Right, maybe they're just, yeah Yeah. Maybe they're just trying to get by on the fact that it's like, well, it's only from the side and you see the leg or something. Yeah. I don't know. But I think that's, yeah, I think that's just wrong. All right. 0 .8. Oh, we can do one quickly.

0:24:34 Lydia: Super fast.

0:24:35 Thomas: BL may have a representative of her choosing present with her on set for the remainder of the rehearsal and shooting days, including while on a closed set. That's from her demands. H .0 .8, Lively entitled to personal representative on set is how Wayfarer characterizes it. And they say Wayfarers had no objection to a lying, blah, blah, okay. No objection to that. Done.

0:24:54 Thomas: All Right. 09, notice of COVID exposure. Lively says, if BL is exposed to COVID -19, she must be provided notice as soon as possible after Wayfair or any other producer or production executive becomes aware of such exposure. And then Baldoni says,

0:25:07 Lydia: Well, before we get into Baldoni's side of things, can we just take a moment to put into context how How disruptive it is when someone gets COVID. Like she has four children. And I mean, I imagine some of them go to school. If one of them got COVID, now they're home for two weeks. And Ryan is going off to film Deadpool and stuff. So like it is so incredibly disruptive when your kids get sick that I understand almost a paranoia that happens here. You're like, please, nobody get sick. Please, nobody gets sick. Because it's going to throw a wrench into everything that you've like had to carefully schedule and plan. So just keep that in mind for focusing specifically on COVID and how incredibly challenging it can be when your kid gets sick and how long it pulls them out of school or daycare or whatever.

0:26:00 Thomas: And this one, I don't know that this is part of her legal complaints exactly, but right, I do not think she sued on the basis of this per se.

0:26:09 Lydia: I don't think so. From my understanding at this point in time, production companies are required to have specific insurance related to COVID. So I think that there might be something curious there if they aren't being forthcoming about COVID exposures on set, if that actually happens. So, yeah, I don't know.

0:26:28 Thomas: We will have to go to her version of that because it does seem like, okay, well, Well, actually, their explanation is pretty short. So they say, why don't you read it?

0:26:36 Lydia: On April 26, 2023, weeks before principal photography of the film commenced, Wayfair sent crew a, quote, COVID-19 protocol update, informing them that the AMPTP return to work agreement expires on May 12, 2023. And as such, there would be no pre -employment testing and no mask requirements after May 12, 2023. So basically like the union existing agreement expired and on that date of expiry, there is no COVID -19 protocol anymore. Although the AMPTP return to work agreement that established COVID protocols expired prior to the start of principal photography and no testing or masking was required, Wayfair agreed to inform Lively if production became aware that she was exposed to covid that's their response to her complaint yeah

0:27:20 Thomas: That's it? Okay. So what does she say? She says, paragraph 67 of her 1231 complaint, Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Heath also failed to implement COVID protocols when there was a COVID outbreak on set. Ms. Lively was told by another producer that because Wayfair did not have insurance coverage for COVID, Mr., Baldoni, and Mr., Heath deliberately withheld from Ms. Lively that she had been exposed to COVID. Both Ms. Lively and her infant child contracted COVID from the outbreak. Yeah, that's really bad, if true.

0:27:29 Lydia: Yeah well and like the way that they're framing it here too is like well we weren't required to have testing or masks as of may 12th so but

0:27:58 Thomas: This is a weird response. Yeah, it's like they're so, I was going to say defensive. They're so like offensive on almost everything else. You know, they're like, well, no, actually she is COVID. She did COVID, you know, but like they don't do that here. And I found another place in her complaint.

0:28:13 Lydia: It's like a quiet misdirection and hoping that people move

0:28:15 Thomas: Yeah, It's really interesting. That's interesting. I mean, it's also maybe it's also not part of the like, like I said, it is not part of the legal complaint. So I don't know that they need like a defense against it. But since so much of this is just PR, like like like honestly, most of this complaint is just P.R. Like there's not really anything legal to most of it. So if they wanted to if they had a defense, they could put it. So there's more in her complaint in the same conversation. So this is this is interesting. I kind of actually forgot about this. I think it's worth reading. I'm going to go ahead and switch to Lydia reading because my throat hurts. I seem to to be not able to read today.

0:28:17 Lydia: On yeah exactly and with the insurance angle like I think there might be something here yeah Yeah. What paragraph are you at?

0:28:51 Thomas: So 75.

0:28:54 Lydia: As described above, Ms. Lively and others attempted to raise concerns to Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Heath regarding certain of the conduct described during filming, but they were not addressed given the futility of asking Mr. Baldoni and Ms. Heath to address their own behavior. After unsuccessfully attempting to raise concern with Sony, Ms., Lively expressly told Mr. Baldy and Mr., Heath that there were serious HR problems on set.

0:29:15 Thomas: Interesting.

0:29:16 Lydia: Mr., Heath responded that they knew, implying that someone had mentioned to them that Ms., lively had raised concerns. In response, Mr. Heath told Ms. Lively that he thought she had wanted to see the nude video of his wife.

0:29:28 Thomas: Boy, that's just apropos of nothing. Okay. And here's where we get to the thing from now. I just, I had forgotten about, like she tried to, she was direct. She talked to them directly. Right.

0:29:28 Lydia: In the same conversation,

0:29:41 Thomas: Right before. Yeah. So now we get into the COVID part.

0:29:39 Lydia: When Ms. Lively expressed her upset that Mr. Heath and Mr. Baldoni had hidden the fact that she had been exposed to a COVID outbreak on set from which she and her infant contracted COVID, instead of acknowledging responsibility and committing to safety moving forward, they expressed upset over production days missed and resulting costs yeah yeah

0:30:03 Thomas: Wow, that is a lot worse than I remember. So again, I think this is an interesting point because I do not think she is suing over this. So it is like a kind of a weird, like it's part of like oh this is an unsafe set kind of but I actually don't know how much that fits into like the very rigid legal framework she's she has to work in you know that's like it has to be like sexual harassment complaint I think or I don't Know maybe it could be about this I'm not sure

0:30:28 Lydia: I this feels to me like lively's council kind of doing a little bit of character not development but their pr angle a little but here like like trying to share like hey this is actually who these guys are

0:30:32 Thomas: A little bit yeah I think that it's relevant in that they aren't handling concerns over their set well you know like it'S probably relevant in THAT way but I guess what what I'm saying is like, it's not as though there are any elements of this that they need to prove for a specific tort that whatever, you know, like it's just so all I'm saying is this sounds bad just on a personal level is what I mean. Like I'm actually surprised she wasn't more mad about this. Like that's good. If someone got you and Remy sick with COVID and didn't say, yeah, yeah, God, I'm surprised she Wasn't more pissed. And maybe that is why, you know, again, Ryan Reynolds ultimately is yelling at this fucking guy. Oh God, it'S horrible no

0:31:08 Lydia: When he's two months old three months old yeah yeah here's the other thing folks like if you don't have kids there's like nothing you can do for them when they're sick when they are under a certain age there's basically nothing you can do and then you're going to the emergency room and you don' t want that so probably already really tired anyway now you're dealing with a baby who is really really uncomfortable can't sleep probably like struggling to eat like then you' re concerned about

0:31:26 Thomas: Medicine there's nothing yeah unless they get really bad then you go then it's then it's worse

0:31:44 Lydia: Their weight you're concerned about there growth while you're also sick that's tough that is a really really hard thing to carry and to manage yeah

0:31:48 Thomas: Yeah that's really bad I think in my mind I had downplayed this because it I didn't think it ultimately like I remember she also like I don't know if she took some of it out but it seemed like it wasn't going to be that important but this is really just again on a personal level and a professional level I guess like ed is getting your infant sick with covid if she if If this is really true, that's because there was an outbreak that they didn't tell her about. That's really bad. Just again, personally and professionally. And for their defense, as I noted, everything else is so offensive. It's so like, oh, she didn't even sign the COVID -19. It's all this stupid shit. Yeah. But this just said, you read the two paragraphs. It just said well, for one, there's no pre -employment testing and no mask requirements after May 12th. Okay. And then tiny paragraph 111, although

0:32:22 Lydia: When really yada yada yeah yeah yeah

0:32:39 Thomas: The AMPTP return to work agreement that established COVID protocols expired prior to the start of principal photography and no testing or masking was required, Wayfair agreed to inform Lively if production became aware that she was exposed to COVID. That's it. That's all they say.

0:32:51 Lydia: So so here's the thing here's a thing that return to work agreement they don't specify anything about um also relieving us of duties of having to inform cast and crew of an illness onset you know that that's not mentioned at all that's pretty standard if there's a communicable disease that has been like identified on your set, just even making people aware that could have put Blake Lively in a position where she could have made explicit choices about, OK, today's not a day that, you know, my baby's coming on set and I'm just going to pump and, you know. He'll be taken care of at home and I will choose to mask even though there's no requirement for the entire production to be masked because of this employment agreement that that or or return to work agreement that just expired, I will choose to mask. I will make these particular decisions. I Will eat my lunch in my trailer solo and try and reduce my risk of getting this and bringing it back home to my baby. It would have put her in a position where she could have made informed decisions to calculate like the level of risk that she was willing to take. And for them to just not say anything at

0:33:56 Lydia: All, and then not even address in their narrative here that that was is also because they didn't have a requirement to tell anybody that something happened. I find that just incredibly odd. And I truly think something is there. Yeah.

0:34:02 Thomas: It's really interesting. Yeah. I find it telling. Yeah. I don't know if it's, I don't know about the something there. I think they just don't have anything they can say. Like, I don't know what other thing are you talking about that's there? Like, is there another legal action somewhere or what do you mean?

0:34:18 Lydia: Again, I think it is, as Blake Lively alluded to in her lawsuit, I think that they are going to get in trouble with insurance companies over this.

0:34:27 Thomas: Oh, they have gotten sued. Oh, okay.

0:34:28 Lydia: Yeah. Yeah. I think they are in big, big trouble on that angle, not from the Blake Lively side, but from that angle. Yeah.

0:34:31 Thomas: And they aren't even gonna, okay, that, well, or at least, I dunno about the big, big trouble. They're just not going to get any insurance money like for anything. So that's interesting. And it's very telling for someone like fucking Friedman, Brian fucking Friedman and this complaint which is 168 pages of exhibit a right and in all of that yeah like all the amount of like Darvo fucking all the stuff they're doing the gaslighting the whatever the like she was the one you blah blah for the COVID thing just be like well there's no requirement that we anyway moving

0:34:51 Lydia: Yeah. Yeah. That's the best he could do. Yeah. Yeah.

0:35:05 Lydia: Yeah. Especially if they're going to go to the lengths of, you know, detailing this point by point. They didn't have to. She didn't detail it point by point in her complaint. And then they were like, oh, this is going to be really effective. Let's go point by point and like push back on all these things. They could have been like, no, let's just kind of talk about it in general and like really focus on the things that look best for us. They created this for themselves.

0:35:35 Ad: [Ad break 2 — ad music]

0:35:35 Thomas: And now we need to look at like their actual timeline because there's some COVID stuff in here let's see it says in exhibit a which I think we've established the left hand doesn't know what the right hand's doing or whatever the fuck. Like whoever did this timeline put in a bunch of stuff that doesn't help them. Okay. May 25th, Lively learns that crew members had called out sick with COVID. So they're even like, okay. They're even saying Lively learns, like in their own thing. They're not saying, well, we informed. TheyRE saying Lively learns. This is his own thing! This is their own thing, guys. Despite the return to work agreement expiring, Lively learns that crew members had called out sick with COVID and as a result, requests that testing be conducted on set. That seems reasonable to me. Quote, despite, I don't know if this is quoting her, let's see. Quot, quote, despite the return to work agreement expiring, bracket, which laid out COVID protocols on set, there, bracket was, still a remaining SAG protocol that if an actor requests those working in extremely close proximity to him or her be tested, they must do so. That must be from her then?

0:36:38 Lydia: Yeah I think so.

0:36:38 Thomas: It's just a quote. Production complied and informed crew members in close proximity to the cast that they should report for testing the following morning, okay? Contrary to Lively's complaint, which states that Wayfair failed to implement COVID protocols on set, production was under no obligation to conduct regular testing unless specifically requested by an actor, which they did.

0:36:56 Lydia: And they only did because she found out about it not because they informed her. She found out some other way. Otherwise, they wouldn't have done shit. They wouldn't've done shit and they know it.

0:37:02 Thomas: Yeah. These fucking clowns. These absolute clowns, how would... Yes, great point. How would she have known? You know, you're right. It's like it's like she found out in their own thing. Lively learns and their and their response is to be like fucking some corporation from like the jungle. That's like, well, once people said there was humans in our meat, like we did something, you know, it's It's like, what? Like, that's the line they're taking?

0:37:12 Lydia: So she wouldn't have been able to exercise her SAG rights in that moment. Unbelievable.

0:37:35 Lydia: I think also an interesting thing here too is it's on May 25th, she learns that crew members had called out sick. What days were they there? How long had it been that they had called Out sick for COVID? Because then in their, in exhibit a it says later that evening lively informed production that she had become ill so that had this had been going on this had be going on yeah

0:37:54 Thomas: Look at this. Look at these people. Look at the weak -ass shit. You ready for this? This is in their own thing, folks. This is their own fucking thing. May 25th, later that evening, Lively informed production that she had become ill. Production offered to send someone to her house to test her and her family, but she declined. Lively did not return to production until June 1st. Contrary to Lively, here we go, ready for the big defense? Contrary to Lively's complaint, which stated that production, quote, deliberately withheld COVID cases from her. Production was not obligated to inform Lively, nor were they aware of any crew members in her close proximity, who tested positive. So the point is, if I were to say to someone, if I was in a work thing and I was like, what the fuck, you didn't even tell me about a COVID outbreak. And they're like, well, you liar. We're not obligated to it's like yeah okay maybe you're not obligated to but you didn't fucking tell me like what this is the most corporate defense that's what I'm saying like this is this is a defense under the idea that we're a heartless corporation and you can't show me in the bylaws where it says I had to warn you that you were gonna die

0:39:04 Thomas: You know it's like no what I'm saying IS FUCK YOU YEAH LIKE YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN ON TOP OF THIS AND THE FACT THAT SHE LEARNED FROM SOMEBODY ELSE FROM COVID THIS IS IN THEIR OWN THING SHE LEARNED THAT CREW MEMBERS HAD AND THEN THEY USE THAT LANGUAGE they weren't aware of any crew members in her close proximity what does that mean how who's defining that are they defining that does that means that you know like anyone who worked like fucking in her trailer how are they defined I don't know is that their weasel language to get out of it so in terms of her like insurance deliberately withheld allegation I think that's something that you'd have to prove out who knows maybe they didn't know like maybe and she she alleges that it seems like her allegation is worded such that it's Baldoni and Heath like not not telling her but I don't know that may or may not be true and we'd have to see but at the very least already from their defense it's so bad like their their defense is like oh no we here at fucking exxon mobil didn't have to make anyone aware of a massive tanker oil leak like it's like it's that level of shit where it's okay sure legally as a corporation you're getting away with whatever this is maybe but as someone who's supposed to be like a model of human empathy and fucking man enough podcast like this is just bad like this just it's just bad I don't know if this is legally anything but it's

0:39:06 Lydia: Finding the loopholes yeah yeah

0:40:20 Thomas: Bad you know what I mean their defense is just like we were not obligated to tell you like that's not good I also think it's interesting going their timeline May 26 the next day so she's got COVID and that that you know maybe this was one of the many straws you know that broke the camel's back because 26 he texts her that oh I'm so sorry to hear that you and baby are sick. I know it's literally the last thing you needed. I pray it comes and goes with mild symptoms is more than anything that is okay. If you feel up for it, I'm absolutely here anytime and would love to check in. I know this week has been a lot and I'm committed to making things run smoother across the board. And that says May 29th, Wayfarer was made aware that Lively had placed a call to the film's Sony executive to share a few grievances. Again, their own thing is just further corroborating how this was a problem at the time, you have to fucking be Alex Jones to think that this is a conspiracy. She's sick with COVID. Yeah. And in their own thing, May 29th, she called Sony to report this stuff. You think that's all made up? While she and her baby have COVID, she's like, this fucking guy, this set is bad. This is unsafe. Safe. So she already has reported May 29th, Baldoni's sexy comment about the wardrobe of her character, which as previously contextualized, blah, blah. So that's, this is their explanation. So I'm not even going to read it because they're lies, but yeah, whatever. But the point I wanted to make is at this point, she already had complained to a third party, at least one third party. The sexy comment, the home birth video and the, oh, Lively shared her grievances about the the first AD suggested that she be replaced. She and the second AD, who was also a woman, were shortly thereafter let go.

0:40:20 Lydia: Exactly we didn't have to Baldoni himself, Baldoni himself is saying I'm gonna make things run smoother either yeah yeah one and they they are reiterating here again video documentation clearly shows the comment was made in a non -provocative tone by a director to his actress and was not as lively described okay let's see it you showed us other stuff why aren't you showing that yeah yeah mm

0:42:23 Thomas: Huh, wait, what is that about?

0:42:24 Lydia: Hmm, I don't think we get a lot of details on that I can't remember we get texts about like Like Baldoni being like, I hate that we're having to let you go, blah, blah.

0:42:32 Thomas: Yeah, well, we don't know anything about that, but I wonder, yeah, grievances about the first ad. I wonder what that's about. I wonder why we don't learn anything about it. Again, this reads far more like someone who has very, you know, say what you want about them, agree or disagree, genuine problems. You know, like you can say Lively's wrong about some of these things or something. Maybe, maybe the, like for the first AD, I don't know what the problem is. Maybe it's like personal crap. Who knows? But what you can't say is that this is made up in some attempt to take over a film. She very clearly has a documented, genuine problem, several, with how things are going here.

0:43:07 Lydia: Well, and then if Wayfair was aware as of May 29th that Lively called Sony to share grievances, that would be the time for Wayfaire to bring in a third party to investigate Lively's grievances.

0:43:19 Thomas: It also would point out how much they're fucking lying when they're like, well, then we've received the 17 point document out of nowhere. No idea.

0:43:27 Lydia: Out of nowhere. We had no idea. Yeah. Yeah.

0:43:31 Thomas: Unbelievable. They're just fucking liars, folks. They're liars in their own document. We could use only their documents and nothing else to prove that they're liars like it's so bad so I'm looking at this timeline the part that I was just at again their own fucking documents this is it's not the covid stuff but this is like related to the fact that she was complaining why don't you read the next two paragraphs

0:43:55 Lydia: Baldoni and Heath were told that during the call, the Sony executive asked Lively if she wanted to take any formal action regarding her remarks. Lively responded that she was not interested in pursuing anything formally. Following the conversation, the Sony executive informed Baldoni and Heath of Lively's narrative, both of whom were stunned by the framing of the events. Quick comment here, because I know I just said, you know, that like Wayfair didn't investigate her claims or anything. That doesn't matter if she says that she doesn't want to file anything formally, they still as an employer. Well, they as an employer have an obligation to investigate any claims, whether or not the individual. I mean, and things might differ based on jurisdiction or whatever, but like my experience working in California and like working with HR and having obligations under harassment -free workplace, etc., etc., my understanding is that an employee might say, I don't want to do anything formally. It doesn't matter.

0:44:19 Thomas: Here they're on

0:44:46 Lydia: You still have an obligation as the employer to investigate those claims because, yeah, it becomes interesting. You know, there's like this whole thing about like confidential versus anonymous and all these various things that come into play. And I've been removed a little bit from that period of time in my life, so I can't recall everything. But from my understanding and the kind of world I would want to live in anyway, and I think also from my understanding, they had an obligation to act at that point in time when Sony informed them that there were these issues.

0:44:46 Thomas: Notice interesting yeah right well and it goes to the whole thing I'm saying which is okay even if you might be right even if you're wrong legally or something and like they don't have to do that cool now you're Exxon Mobil like that's that's how that's what we're supposed to think of you like if the whole thing is Blake Lively is a lying awful person and here's my proof by the letter of the law I didn't have to inform her that she got COVID you know just stuff like that where it's like what whose side like what are you really would you be on that side the corporate side if it was that of anything else you know

0:45:36 Lydia: Well, and these people purport to be feminists, right? So now you have a woman that is expressing issues that they're having that pertain to a sexual harassment kind of nature of the thing. If you were seriously like a feminist in this situation and a feminist company. Yeah.

0:45:57 Thomas: I think you should get through the rest of these paragraphs so people know what you're talking about.

0:46:00 Lydia: Yeah. Well, I guess all I want to say is for that, if you hear that someone who works for you, a woman that works for you is having problems on set. If you truly, truly believe in women having value in the workplace, you would have pursued that.

0:46:16 Thomas: And this just goes to there being no HR because the people involved, again, it's the problem from the very beginning. The people involved are the people being accused. So they're like, oh, that's not a problem because those are all, she's just bullshit. Which like, okay, if you want to claim they're right, I guess, but that's just not the case. That's not even, even if I would ever agree that they were right about their version of the story, that's not how you do it. You don't, people can't be judges in their own cases.

0:46:42 Thomas: That's just not there's no way we could rely on a system where the two dinguses who are in charge are the ones accused of something. And they're like, oh, no, here's our process. We know she's full of shit that's just nicht how it works.

0:46:53 Lydia: You would want to be exonerated in that instance, I would think. Yeah? Yeah, Anyway, yeah. Continuing on within this, they had someone who is Baha 'i who is serving multiple roles.

0:46:56 Thomas: It's just not how the system could work like it. Yeah. So very interesting. And I think your point is well made that if they had any kind of healthy H.R. at all or any age, they had some sort of something, right? Right. Somebody who's claimed who had a business card that said H .R. on it or something.

0:47:16 Thomas: That's about it. Yeah. Placard that said HR, because if they had a real H.R., if this was a real company that wasn't a piece of shit, this would be handled better. But OK, yeah, it doesn't matter.

0:47:24 Lydia: Finishing out this in her later CRD complaint filed more than a year and a half later. That doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. You don't have to put that clause in there because that doesn't matter. Lively distorted the nature of this call, claiming she had.

0:47:35 Thomas: Also, sorry, her CRD complaint involves retaliation. The retaliation didn't happen and she certainly didn't have evidence of it until more than a year and a half later. Her.

0:47:44 Lydia: Yeah, yeah, that's a good point.

0:47:44 Thomas: She didn't fight. Like if there had not been the retaliation, we don't know that she would have pursued more stuff.

0:47:50 Lydia: I don't think she would have.

0:47:50 Thomas: Do we? Yeah. It's not worth it. Like, cause it's so often isn't worth it for women. Yeah.

0:47:54 Lydia: Yeah well yeah look at look at what's happened. Right yeah I wouldn't bother yeah

0:47:57 Thomas: No fucking. Yeah, this arguably was not worth It at all.

0:48:00 Lydia: Lively distorted the nature of this call, claiming she had contacted the Sony executive specifically to file an HR complaint and was told Sony was powerless to act this account is this account is highly dubious as lively's pattern of successfully getting her demands met makes it difficult to believe she would have been dissuaded so easily from pursuing doing formal action if that had been her true intent. So dumb. Yeah. Yeah. Moreover, Sony immediately informed Wayfarer, stated that the complaints were not sexual in nature. Okay, but how does that work when it's literally Baldoni's sexy comment and the home birth video? There's no way that she did not say, hey, this feels like sexual harassment. This feels like a hostile work environment. Yeah. I think this is Angie. Yeah, yeah. Right. Mm hmm. Right. Yeah. Yeah, they're listing basically the key points of their call.

0:48:04 Thomas: Okay. Okay, oh, you ready for this, everybody? Okay, so that's, they're saying this is dubious because she claims she tried to file an HR complaint and Sony was powerless to act. You know how we know? You You ready for the, you ready for their proof? Ipso facto. Here we go. Come on. Unbelievable. The fucking gall. Now it's her, like her fucking uppity -ness as a woman is used against her or whatever. You know, it's like every, she can't every which way it counts against her every which way. Well, we know that this can't be right. Cause she's so good at fucking complaining about everything. She never would have stopped. So what do you, what is that argument? Argument yeah it literally was a yeah in the home birth video now here's the thing yeah we don't know about sony in this so we don'T know if in the game of literal telephone here sony could also be a piece of shit whoever's in charge of like whatever executive whoever it is could have also handled this badly you know so it's like it may be that who knows which party is most most responsible for each individual little point here like if sony was shitty and told wayfarer a wrong thing you know maybe that'll be on sony and you can't blame wayfarers if they were misinformed but that's that's I mean they're they're saying it was the sexy comment it's their own fucking document folks the sexy comment and the home birth video those are sexual harassment inarguable even if you think they're fake those are accusations of sexual harassment right so what the fuck are are you talking about? Sony immediately informed Wayfair stated that, that's a weird sentence, stated that the complaints were not sexual in nature.

0:50:13 Thomas: Okay. Well, that is going to be interesting to hear from Sony then because that is bad if they said that.

0:50:17 Lydia: Yeah. That Lively did not want to file a formal complaint and that she simply wanted to bring it to their attention so that they would be more mindful going forward. Certainly, had she filed a complaint, Wayfair would have formally addressed any issues.

0:50:30 Thomas: Really? Yeah. Who?

0:50:30 Lydia: Who was she going to file the complaint to also? Like, yeah. Yeah I think this is another corporate loophole kind Right. Like there's nothing on paper. So she did not complain. Well, these things sound like complaints.

0:50:34 Thomas: Ridiculous. And she did talk, she had a conversation with them. Many. Yeah.

0:50:47 Thomas: Yeah, I don't think that is gonna fly legally. That is what they are trying, but I just don't think that's how employment law works

0:50:53 Lydia: All right. We should probably get back to our narrative that this point by point. Otherwise, we're going to be stuck on this exhibit all the time.

0:50:54 Thomas: That's true but that was that's really interesting I like that is again their own exhibit is just looks so bad for them okay point 10 of 17 okay there shall be no retaliation of any kind against Blake Lively for raising concerns about the conduct described in this letter or for these requirements any changes in attitude sarcasm marginalization or other negative behavior either on set or otherwise including during publicity and promotional work as a result of these requests is retaliatory and unacceptable and will be met with immediate action. Wow. I mean, I don't know what that does legally, but it can't be good.

0:51:31 Thomas: There's no way it's good for them. All right. What do they say? That's fine. Whatever. That's their bullet point. What's their defense? What? Yeah. Yeah. No fucking kidding. So inappropriate.

0:51:34 Lydia: No retaliation for requests. I know. I know. It's just funny to me. Yeah. While Wayfair in no way conceded that Lively's demands amounted to a report of genuine sexual misconduct. You can't decide that. You can't call something genuine or not on the basis of like the person who's reporting it. Like that's what the investigation is for from an independent party. Yeah. Wayfair had no interest in retaliating against Lively for making these demands. Their only desire was to make a great movie. In the interest of maintaining a professional and productive atmosphere on set, they agreed to meet all of her demands, including a broadly defined statement that they would not retaliate in any manner, including, quote, sarcasm.

0:52:05 Thomas: Back then. Sure. Yeah.

0:52:18 Lydia: Well, that's retaliation.

0:52:18 Thomas: Why do you put that in scare quotes?

0:52:21 Lydia: That is literally retaliation, yeah.

0:52:22 Thomas: Quotes, including, quote, sarcasm. It just it just belies how fucking sexist these assholes are. Do you not have an instant idea of employment wise? Yeah.

0:52:32 Lydia: And pretending like they don't, employment law, like pretending that they don't know that is 100 % considered retaliation?

0:52:35 Thomas: Like like they're trying to make her like the free speech police, like she wouldn't even allow. Yes, that's retaliation. That's how this happens. Do they have I mean, it could be that they're so fucking privileged, especially Baldoni. I don't know. Do you Not work a real job ever in his life? Maybe like, yeah, this is how it happens. A woman reports sexual harassment and then all of a sudden everyone in the office is making sarcastic jokes about, oh, well, oh is this going to be a problem? Are you going to report me for this? Yes, that's retaliation. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. This isn't even hypothetical. This is saying stop doing that. Why would they fucking highlight that? Oh God.

0:52:53 Lydia: Yeah, I don't think he has. Well, literally, like, the comments whenever people had expressed concerns, like before, where they were like, guess I missed the HR meeting. Guess you better file a complaint against me with HR. It literally happened. Yeah, I don't know. Wayfarer agreed, though later it became clear that Lively would consider any future effort to push back against her demands with respect to the production as unacceptable, quote, retaliation.

0:53:34 Thomas: We'll see.

0:53:35 Lydia: On information and belief, this demand was included to safeguard Lively not from retaliation, but to secure her place as, quote. Leader of the film. Like freaking Star Wars. Weird. With the threats with the leader of the film with the threat of claims of retaliation if wayfarer or baldoni pushed back yeah in your warped mind yeah right

0:53:39 Thomas: Huh? What? Quote alpha dog of the fit like what are you taught quote leader of the film that's okay well oh yeah on information belief fucking stupid I don't know because when I just read it as like a person that reads as she doesn't want to be retaliated against for the sexual harassment she's reporting that's kind of straightforwardly yeah so stupid well that's

0:54:09 Lydia: Just treat me normally stop sexually harassing me in the workplace don't touch me I want an intimacy coordinator there and treat me like a normal human being as if nothing ever happened right hey

0:54:27 Ad: [Ad break 3 — ad music]

0:54:27 Thomas: Where we're leaving it today. Another, another chunk chunked. How much chunk could the pod chunks chunk? If the chunk pods could chunk pods that much. Yeah.

0:54:31 Lydia: Hey, you know, we chunked through quite a bit today. I think, you Know, we got through 0.10 of our 17 point list.

0:54:45 Thomas: For a second, I thought you meant like 0.10, like 0.1%.

0:54:47 Lydia: Yeah, 0.1 of what we have to work through. No, no, we made through quite a bit and we have, you know, a handful of other things we need to cover, but We don't have time today. So we're going to have to save those for the next one.

0:55:00 Thomas: Save your chunks for next chunk time. Next Chunksmas, which is very soon because we're putting these out pretty much back to back, to back to black, to black to black. So with that to look forward to, we'll see you next chunk. Gavelheads got our own language.

0:55:05 Lydia: Chunks mess. We do. I like it.

0:55:15 Thomas: It's just two words, chunk and gavel. It's like the Smurfs or whatever. Is that the one where they say Smurf for everything? I don't know. I never watched it, but I heard that's what they do. It is like we have a whole language, except it is just chunk and gavel, and that is it.

0:55:28 Lydia: Cool. I like it.

0:55:30 Thomas: Chunk you later, chunkheads. Gavel out.

0:55:55 Lydia: Because it's jack -off motion time.

0:55:57 Thomas: This is 224 pages of complaint, 93 pages of exhibits. Sorry, I am on the wrong thing. 77 pages.

0:56:02 Lydia: 77 pages of jack-off motions. Yeah. No.

0:56:07 Thomas: No, it is I, Thomas, and this is you, Lydia, over there. How are you doing? I don't know why I did that.

0:56:13 Lydia: You over there, I have a name. My name's Lydia.

0:56:17 Thomas: I said Lydia, but yeah,

0:56:18 Lydia: Oh, you did? I heard, and there's you over there. Okay, cut it. Yeah.

0:56:23 Thomas: I don't know. That was bad for everybody involved. Let's all fresh start.