{"id":474932,"date":"2026-05-08T15:03:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T15:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/474932\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T15:03:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T15:03:11","slug":"blake-lively-baldoni-settlement-louis-c-k-returns-to-netflix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/474932\/","title":{"rendered":"Blake Lively Baldoni Settlement, Louis C.K. Returns to Netflix"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tLOST<\/strong>: Blake Lively<\/a><\/strong> and Justin Baldoni<\/strong>: A year ago, I argued<\/a> Lively and Baldoni were locked in mutually assured destruction and only their lawyers, the media and fans obsessively watching this feud would be the real winners (writing at the time, \u201cIn the lawsuit filings, Lively comes across like somebody who would order the launch of nuclear warheads over not getting a booth at a restaurant. Whereas Baldoni seems like somebody who would burst into tears when a Tinder date fails to praise his unsolicited dick pic\u201d).<\/p>\n

\n\tThat prediction turned out to be correct. The duo settled this week ahead of their courtroom showdown and issued a needle-thread media statement<\/a>, which was a meaningless, blameless word salad with hedge sauce. If a New York Post report<\/a> is correct that no money changed hands \u2014 except for the duo paying a stunning $60 million in legal fees \u2014 the settlement is even more striking. All that drama \u2026 for a stalemate and statement? The budget for It Ends With Us was $25 million. Lively and Baldoni could have made a couple of sequels instead of paying lawyers, but hey, everybody has their own idea of fun.<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, Lively and Baldoni were going to be winners this week. Avoiding court benefits both, and they seemed poised to move on with their careers (what\u2019s left of them amid the smoldering ashes). Lively, in particular, looked lovely as she stepped out for the Met Gala<\/a> (more on that below). It was a savvy move, with real \u201cturning a new page\u201d energy (even if it had the gossips whispering: Where\u2019s Ryan?).<\/p>\n

\n\tThen came the news that Lively\u2019s team is still going after Baldoni<\/a> to try and recoup damages and legal fees from Baldoni\u2019s retaliatory defamation lawsuit. Then her attorneys declared to the press<\/a>, \u201cThis settlement is a resounding victory \u2026 Justin Baldoni and every individual defendant now face personal liability for abusing the legal system to silence and intimidate Ms. Lively.\u201d Then Baldoni\u2019s attorney shot back, \u201cThis is a win and total victory \u2026they settled because they knew they were going to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAll this within 48 hours of the settlement statement, which literally included this sentence: \u201cIt is our sincere hope that this brings closure and allows all involved to move forward constructively and in peace, including a respectful environment online.\u201d It\u2019s like having an exhausting, hours-long argument with your spouse, you both finally calm down and reconcile, and then just as your partner is walking out of the room, they turn back and go, \u201cAnd another thing!\u201c<\/p>\n

\n\tWON<\/strong>: Louis C.K.<\/strong>: It\u2019s like that line from The Rise of Skywalker: \u201cSomehow, Louis C.K.<\/a> returned\u2026\u201d Nine years after the comedian was essentially canceled in Hollywood after admitting to sexual misconduct, he\u2019s back to headline the Netflix Is a Joke festival. At the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday, the comedian said<\/a>, \u201cThank you to Netflix. I really appreciate the gig.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRegardless of your feelings about this, there\u2019s a legit question for Netflix. Our sister publication Variety<\/a> spoke to the streamer\u2019s stand-up chief Robbie Praw and asked, \u201cTell me about the process of getting him back on Netflix\u201c \u2014 which is the most feather-touch way possible of asking the real question, which is: You guys canceled a Louis C.K. special due to his scandal and haven\u2019t done business with him since. What\u2019s actually changed that made you want to work with him again?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tPraw\u2019s answer: \u201c\u2026part of the job of my team is we listen to the type of stand-ups people want to see, but we also spend a lot of time looking at who\u2019s selling tickets all around the world. Louis has had a really impressive run for the last two years, and he has a great special right now, so we\u2019re excited to see it on Netflix this summer.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tExcept C.K. returned to widespread popularity with acclaimed material in the stand-up scene fairly soon after the pandemic, not recently. He won a Grammy for best comedy album in 2022. He sold out Madison Square Garden in 2023. If Praw was pressed on this matter, one suspects he would keep repeating the same answer, Westworld android style.<\/p>\n

\n\tAn honest reply might be: Nearly a decade has passed, he\u2019s really popular, nobody can agree on the consequences for certain mistakes, and we estimate blowback will be minimal. But hey: \u201cMy team just now noticed this Louis C.K. guy sells tickets\u201d is also an answer.<\/p>\n

\n\tLOST<\/strong>: The Met Gala<\/strong>: The Gala went from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s \u201cTax the Rich\u201d dress five years ago to the mega-rich invading the event, with Jeff Bezos and Lauren S\u00e1nchez Bezos paying $10 million to serve as honorary chairs. Tech titans Mark Zuckerberg and Sergey Brin also crashed the annual parade of protest-y decadence. The \u201cTech Gala\u201d twist resulted in largely unproven speculation that some celebrities boycotted the event (one bets that every celeb on that suspected boycott list regularly has Amazon purchases on their doorstep).<\/p>\n

\n\tFor all the billionaire invasion criticism, the event has long been an advertising, media promotion and networking ritual for the wealthy and powerful, so what changed, really? The event\u2019s bigger sin was that the costumes \u2014 er, fashion \u2014 on parade weren\u2019t that bold or interesting (\u201cTame \u2026 tempered, restrained, safe,\u201d was how<\/a> NPR culture critic Marjon Carlos put it). We want our Met Gala stars looking like extras from The Hunger Games Capitol so we can mock them and say wildly how out of touch they are. The event failed at its one job.<\/p>\n

\n\tWON<\/strong>: Spencer Pratt<\/strong>: Would The Hills star actually make for a good L.A. mayor? Perhaps the better question: Would he make for a worse one? The L.A. Times<\/a> and Vanity Fair<\/a> both ranked his debut debate performance this week a \u201cwinner\u201d (hey, don\u2019t steal my thing) and an informal NBC4-LA poll likewise suggested Pratt was the clear debate victor.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was a begrudging admission that Pratt did pretty well against incumbent Karen Bass and city councilwoman Nithya Raman (or, as Pratt brutally branded Raman, \u201ca random city council member\u201d). That bonkers viral Batman AI ad<\/a> supporting Pratt also received plenty of attention this week, even if it was largely praise from right-wingers on X looking for any excuse to dump on L.A. Pratt remains a long shot, especially if Raman drops out and voters consolidate around Bass, but he won the expectations game this round.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWON<\/strong>: Disney crushed earnings this week \u2014 revenue up 7 percent, with Disney+ and Hulu boosting profitability at a time when streamers are struggling. The company\u2019s parks division continues to print money (partly by squeezing creepy Disney adults who are going into debt<\/a> to finance their addiction to Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage). <\/p>\n

\n\tLOST<\/strong>: Warner Bros. saw revenue fall 3 percent and the company lost $2.9 billion in the first quarter. The latter was largely due to having to pay that extraordinary $2.8 billion \u201cbreakup fee\u201d to Netflix (show of hands: How many want to get paid breakup fees when they get dumped too?). Streaming was up 9 percent, however, leading CEO David Zaslav to call HBO Max<\/a> \u201cprobably \u2026 our most important asset\u201d (to which HBO boss Casey Bloys is surely thinking: What do you mean \u201cprobably\u201d?)<\/p>\n

\n\tWON<\/strong>: Sean Astin<\/strong>: The Lord of the Rings star-turned-SAG-AFTRA president helped lead his union through a hard-fought six weeks of negotiations to forge a new contract<\/a> with studios and streamers, and avoided a strike. Though nothing is yet official, Astin is also rumored to reprise his beloved role of Samwise Gamgee in the recently announced The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past (a.k.a. The Stephen Colbert one<\/a>). C\u2019mon, you can\u2019t bring back Elijah Wood\u2019s Frodo for The Hunt for Gollum without bringing back \u201cmy Sam\u201d for the next one.<\/p>\n

\n\tLast Week<\/strong>: Why Jimmy Kimmel and Meryl Streep<\/a> Won, and \u2018The Mandalorian and Grogu\u2019 Lost<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tNext Week: Winners and Losers, Broadcast Upfronts Edition<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tThoughts, tips, praise, suggestions, gripes: jhibberd@thr.com.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOST: Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni: A year ago, I argued Lively and Baldoni were locked in mutually…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[268],"tags":[8150,434,18,117,208149,19,17,187366,4112,165297],"class_list":{"0":"post-474932","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-blake-lively","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-hollywood-winners-and-losers","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-louis-c-k","16":"tag-met-gala","17":"tag-met-gala-2026"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116539569636878032","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}