‘Such an insult’: Reporter hits back over infamous Blake Lively interview

A journalist whose “nightmare” Blake Lively encounter went viral has hit back after she was implicated in an alleged smear campaign.

Journalist Kjersti Flaa denied being involved in Justin Baldoni’s alleged smear campaign against Blake Lively after her “nightmare” interview with the actress went viral.

“I have nothing to do it. I would never take part in anything like that. That is such an insult to me,” Flaa claimed in a video posted to YouTube.

“I don’t want a part of this. I posted a video [showing] how Blake Lively was behaving in my interview and that’s it,” she continued, referring to her resurfaced 2016 interview with the Gossip Girl star.

Flaa explained she was “shocked and appalled” when she read the bombshell complaint that Lively, 37, filed against Baldoni, 40, alleging he sexually harassed her on the set of It Ends With Us and then coordinated a smear campaign to ruin her career.

Kjersti Flaa says she’s “shocked” at any suggestion she participated in a smear campaign.

She’d dubbed her 2016 Blake Lively interview a “nightmare.”

She also further addressed claims she was involved in Baldoni’s alleged plans after she was referenced in the New York Times article about Lively’s complaint.

Flaa claimed it was a “coincidence” that she re-shared her “uncomfortable” interview with Lively around the same time the film was released in August.

“I posted the video after I had seen the movie. … I didn’t like it,” she said. “I had a bad experience with Blake Lively, and at that time I was like, ‘I’ve kind of had enough of Hollywood,’ so I wasn’t that afraid of being cancelled anymore, so I decided to post the video.”

Flaa further doubled down that her 2016 interview with Lively and her Café Society co-star Parker Posey “wasn’t a great interview experience at all” after Lively commented on her “little bump” and appeared to ignore the reporter throughout the segment.

Yesterday Lively filed a complaint against Baldoni, alleging there was an “all-hands” meeting about the actor’s behaviour on the set of the domestic violence drama adapted from Colleen Hoover’s best-selling book.

Baldoni has furiously denied claims made in the lawsuit. Picture: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images

Per the complaint, Baldoni allegedly showed Lively nude pictures of women, talked about his history of “porn addiction” and discussed the cast and crew’s genitalia.

In the meeting, he was allegedly to no longer bring up those topics or discuss Lively’s “weight” and “dead father.”

Bryan Freedman, an lawyer for Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios, denied the allegations, telling Page Six, “It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations.

“These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.”

Lively has accused her co-star of sexual harassment and a coordinated smear campaign against her. Picture: Gotham/WireImage

Freedman claimed Baldoni hired a PR crisis manager over the summer after the “Simple Favor” actress made “multiple demands and threats,” including “threatening to not showing up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met.”

Rumours of a feud between Lively and Baldoni began swirling in August when fans noticed they were not promoting It Ends With Us together.

At the time, multiple sources told Page Six that Baldoni — who was also the director — created an “extremely difficult” work environment on set.

Lively, however, came under fire while promoting the movie as fans called out her failure to speak about the domestic violence issues in the film while instead promoting her haircare line, Blake Brown, and alcohol brand, Betty Booze.

This story originally appeared on Page Six and is republished here with permission.

Originally published as ‘Such an insult’: Reporter hits back over infamous Blake Lively interview