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Unless you've been living under a rock, It Ends With Usand the drama surrounding it has taken the internet by storm. Some fans think star and director Justin Baldoni is at fault, while others are sure Blake Lively is to blame for all the turmoil. While folks have yet to figure out exactly what happened — apparently Lively had another cut of the movie made, Baldoni was allegedly difficult to work with on set, some say Lively didn't take the subject matter seriously, the rumors go on — something is certainly up given the ever-present rift between the majority of the cast and Baldoni.
Still, until now nobody aligned to the project has officially spoken out about the situation. That is, until Brandon Sklenar took to Instagram to share his thoughts on the "the stuff swirling online."
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Sklenar, who plays the beloved character of Atlas, posted a lengthy statement on Instagram to address the back-and-forth rumors about his cast, crew, and It Ends With Us in general. He said, "Colleen and the women of this cast stand for hope, perseverance, and for women choosing a better life for themselves." Sklenar went on to note that "vilifying" these women actively goes against the message and "detracts what this film is about."
And while it's clear he's standing up for Hoover and Lively specifically, he doesn't deny that something may have happened regarding the rift everyone's commenting on. He said, "What may or may not have happened behind the scenes does not and hopefully should not detract from what our intentions were in making this film." Sklenar notes how "disheartening" this has all been since the film's release.
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Sklenar also said that "there isn't a single person involved in the making of this film that was not aware of the responsibility we had in making this." This seemingly negates the criticism Lively's faced for turning the movie into a rom-com marketing moment to promote her brands, directly stating how serious the entire cast and crew took the subject matter at hand. And while that statement technically includes Baldoni, the cast's clear persona non grata, it also doesn't name or absolve him specifically in regards to the more direct rumors about him. In fact, Sklenar more actually notes that we shouldn't be making women the "bad guy" — which definitely doesn't include Baldoni in this semi-absolution.
Still, Sklenar stressed, "All I ask is that before you spread hate on the internet, ask yourself who it is helping."
Read Brandon Sklenar's Full Statement Here
I know this statement was meant to quell the fires, but TBH it's only made me (and likely everyone else) more curious about what happened and why.
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Header image via Cindy Ord/Getty Images
