Stand-up comedian Hannah Berner has clarified that her recent joke about Blake Lively was filmed before the actor started legal proceedings against her It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni.
Berner, 33, is one of the comedians who appears in Netflix’s new comedy special Torching 2024: A Roast of the Year, which was filmed at The Bellwether in Los Angeles on December 17. It is now available on the streaming service.
During her set, Berner jokes: “The word ‘c***’ was trending this year. I don’t think Blake Lively was that bad.”
In a new post on her Instagram Stories, Berner stated: “My joke in the Netflix roast was filmed before news of the lawsuit. To be 100 percent clear, I support Blake xoxo.”
Lively, 37, was the subject of much bad press earlier in the year. This month she brought a sexual harassment lawsuit against Baldoni that also alleged he had been behind a “smear campaign” intended to destroy her reputation.
Rumours of an on-set feud had percolated online around the August release of It Ends With Us, an adaptation of the bestselling 2016 novel by Colleen Hoover.
Lively and Baldoni appeared to avoid each other during the film’s promotional tour. Lively was also called out for a “tone-deaf” approach to the movie, as some felt she failed to treat its heavy subject matter with the appropriate solemnity.
Legal documents related to Lively’s lawsuit seen by The Independent as well as an investigation by The New York Times accuse Baldoni and associates of a targeted effort to “destroy” the actor and drag her in the media, which Lively says has caused her “severe emotional distress.”
The lawsuit states that after Lively first raised her claims of harassment during production, a meeting was held that was attended by individuals including Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, Baldoni and their lawyers.
Lively had a number requirements in order for her to work on the film that – according to the lawsuit – included “no more showing nude videos or images of women to Blake, no more mention of Baldoni’s alleged previous ‘pornography addiction,’ no more discussions about sexual conquests in front of Blake and others, no further mentions of cast and crew’s genitalia, no more inquiries about Blake’s weight, and no further mention of Blake’s dead father.”
The studio agreed to all the requirements — but the lawsuit argues that Baldoni retaliated with the alleged public smear campaign.
Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman has called the allegations in Lively’s complaint “categorically false.”
Elsewhere in Torching 2024: A Roast of the Year, comedian Tim Dillon appeared as the “ghost” of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, less than a month after the insurance executive was murdered in Manhattan.
