Unfortunately for Blake Lively’s PR team, the It Ends With Us drama is not the first controversial moment of the actress’ career. Whether or not Justin Baldoni’s PR team amplified negative Blake content on social media via an orchestrated “smear campaign,” a lot of that content exists, and it is rough. Before this disastrous It Ends With Us era, the Gossip Girl star has been accused of racism, transphobia, being rude in interviews, and causing conflicts on sets. It’s safe to say she really fucking hates TikTok, ’cause I swear to god, I see a new (resurfaced) problematic Blake video like every week.

Read on to learn about all of Blake Lively’s controversies throughout her career.

Blake Lively’s Controversies Over The Years

The Blake Lively It Ends With Us Drama

Initially, Blake was criticized for some pretty tone-deaf promo. “Grab your friends, wear your florals, and head out to see [It Ends With Us],” she says in one particularly cringe viral clip. Not to mention, she wore a Britney Spears Versace dress to the premiere, which was just distracting and not the vibe.

During the promo and when the movie came out, Blake and the rest of the cast were not following Justin on Instagram. They also weren’t photographed with him at all at the premiere. Because of Blake’s past controversies (and yes, also because of misogyny), many of us took Justin’s side and assumed Blake must’ve caused a problem.

Months later, Blake sued Justin for sexual harassment, creating a hostile work environment, and participating in a smear campaign to ruin her reputation. Justin then sued The New York Times for libel over their article on Blake’s allegations, and he’s since also sued Blake and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, for $400 million, accusing them of “civil extortion, defamation and invasion of privacy,” and more. He’s claiming that Blake and Ryan attempted to take control of the It Ends With Us script and used false sexual harassment allegations to “destroy” his reputation.

Blake Lively Accused Of Blackface

@amilea803 🧐 @Justin Baldoni @Ryan Reynolds #blakelively #justinbaldoni #itendswithus #lawsuit #pickme ♬ original sound – amilea

In a resurfaced video that has over a million views on TikTok, a young Blake tells a story about how she and her friend “stalked” their crushes at an arcade one time. Cringing as I type this: “I put bronzer all over myself and a Scary Spice fro, so I thought they would think I was a Black girl,” Blake says in the video. Well, YIKES.

Blake Lively’s Alleged Feuds With The Gossip Girl Cast And Anna Kendrick

If you’ve seen a lot of Blake-focused TikToks recently or you’ve just done your own sleuthing, you might be aware that Blake does not follow any of her Gossip Girl co-stars (Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley, Ed Westwick, and Chace Crawford) on Instagram. Chace and Ed do still follow Blake, but Penn and Leighton do not. The Gossip Girl set was not exactly known for being a drama-free environment… and shocker, a lot of the rumors involve Blake. In 2008, New York Magazine reported that Blake and Leighton “avoided each other like the plague” on set, and their co-stars felt like they had to “choose sides.” Joshua Safran, the executive producer of the show, didn’t try to sugarcoat Blake and Leighton’s relationship during an August 2017 interview with Vanity Fair. “Blake and Leighton were not friends,” he revealed.

Armie Hammer kind of insinuated that there was on-set drama when he played Blake’s love interest on the show. During a 2017 Watch What Happens Live! appearance, he was asked about “the biggest diva” on the set and get nervous. “Let me just say that was a tough show to film and I didn’t end up actually filming all the episodes I was supposed to because it was so tough.” He implied that someone wanted him out, and when guest Chelsea Handler guessed that person was Blake, Armie very unconvincingly said, “No, that’s not what I’m saying” and smiled. (That being said, do keep in mind his cannibal tendencies. Maybe not the most reliable source ever.)

Blake also allegedly didn’t get along with Anna Kendrick, her co-star in A Simple Favor. When they were doing promo together, people picked up on tension during their joint interviews. An insider that claimed to work at the film’s studio told The Celebrity Memoir Book Podcast that Blake and Anna “were not speaking” by the end of filming. “They HATED each other,” the source alleged. “The studio even had to have a talk with them about making it look like they liked each other on press tours because it was starting to get obvious.” Blake and Anna did not comment on the rumors. Honestly, I think this rumored feud might be totally made up, but ya never know.

Blake Lively Defending Harvey Weinstein

Sigh. While countless women were condemning Harvey Weinstein and other male predators in Hollywood, Blake low-key defended the producer, who was accused of sexual harassment and/or abuse by more than 80 women. “That was never my experience with Harvey in any way whatsoever,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in October 2017. “I think that if people heard these stories … I do believe in humanity enough to think that this wouldn’t have just continued. I never heard any stories like this — I never heard anything specific — but it’s devastating to hear.”

Confusingly, she then emphasized the importance of listening to women. “The number one thing that can happen is that people who share their stories, people have to listen to them and trust them, and people have to take it seriously,” Blake told THR. “As important as it is to remain furious about this, it’s important to also say that this exists everywhere so remember to look everywhere.” She noted that sexual harassment and abuse happens in “every single industry.” Blake, you were so close… just delete that whole first part.

The Blake Lively Interview That Made A Reporter Want To Quit Her Job

By now, I’m sure you’ve encountered Norwegian reporter Kjersti Flaa’s viral YouTube video titled “The Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job.” Kjersti called the 2016 interview with Blake and her Café Society co-star, Parker Posey, “the most uncomfortable interview situation” she ever experienced, and that’s an understandable assessment. At the time of their chat, Blake had recently revealed that she was pregnant, so Kjersti acknowledged the exciting news. (How dare she!) “Congrats on your little bump,” she said to Blake, who immediately looked annoyed and replied sarcastically, “Congrats on your little bump!” Kjersti was not pregnant, and she’s actually infertile, so Blake’s comment really hurt her.

Later on in the interview, Kjersti called Café Society “visually amazing” and asked Blake and Parker if they enjoyed the beautiful wardrobe. Blake was not having it for some reason. She ignored Kjersti, looked at Parker, and said, “Everyone wants to talk about the clothes, but I wonder if they would ask the men about the clothes.” Kjersti seemed upset and interjected, “I would.” Blake and Parker proceeded to only look at each other and go on and on about how stunning the men’s costumes were. It was giving mean girl, to say the least.

Blake Lively And Ryan Reynolds’ Plantation Wedding

Blake and Ryan made the insane, deeply offensive choice to exchange their vows at a South Carolina plantation. The actors held their 2012 wedding at Boone Hall Plantation in Mount Pleasant, which literally features a “Slave Street” and slave cabins. They were criticized for that decision at the time, of course, and the conversation came up again in 2018 when Ryan tweeted in support of Black Panther, the first Marvel Studios movie with a Black director and predominantly Black cast. “BELIEVE. THE. HYPE,” he wrote. “All hail the king #WakandaForever.” The tweet was obviously perceived as hypocritical, considering where he had his wedding.

Ryan addressed the controversy during an August 2020 interview with Fast Company. He said that he and Blake are “deeply and unreservedly sorry for” for having their wedding at that plantation. “It’s impossible to reconcile,” he admitted. “What we saw at the time was a wedding venue on Pinterest. What we saw after was a place built upon devastating tragedy.” I fear finding the venue on Pinterest in no way explains or excuses the choice.

In 2020, Blake and Ryan tried to show that they’ve changed and become anti-racist. “We’re ashamed that in the past we’ve allowed ourselves to be uninformed about how deeply rooted systemic racism is,” they wrote on Instagram after George Floyd was tragically killed by Minneapolis police officers. “We want to educate ourselves about other people’s experiences and talk to our kids about everything, all of it … especially our own complicity.” They announced a $200,000 donation to the NAACP legal defense fund.

Blake Lively Using A Slur For Transgender People

Blake has used the slur, “t—-y,” on multiple occasions when referring to transgender folks. During a 2008 interview with Nylon, she was attempting to squash the Leighton feud rumors and said: “You read the gossip magazines and everybody is dating everyone, everybody hates everyone, everybody’s had tons of plastic surgery and we’re actually men and t—-ies. You don’t listen to the rumors.” Why she had to randomly throw that language in there, we’ll never know.

The It Ends With Us star also reportedly used the word while speaking with Allure in 2009. “I feel like a t—-y a lot of the time,” she said. “I don’t know, I’m … large? They put me in six-inch heels, and I tower over every man. I’ve got this long hair and lots of clothes and makeup on … I just feel really big a lot of the time, and I’m surrounded by a lot of tiny people. I feel like a man sometimes.”

Oh! That’s not…