Well, well, well. It looks like the drama surrounding Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni‘s explosive legal feud around It Ends With US has taken another turn.
This time Lively’s brother-in-law Bart Johnson, aka Coach Bolton, is chiming in with some major backpedalling.
Johnson, who’s married to Lively’s sister Robyn, took to X (formerly Twitter) on January 28 to express regret over his “unkind” remarks.
He wrote, “Anytime I’ve said anything unkind about someone I’ve regretted it. Fortunately that’s almost never and definitely not when I’m at my best.”
For context, Johnson had previously gone off about Baldoni in a now deleted X post, calling him a total “fraud” with his “man bun” and “trendy catchphrases”. He’d dramatically claimed that Baldoni’s entire public persona was “all theater” — and everyone had fallen for it.
But now? Total 180.
Johnson’s initial comments were made in the context of supporting his sister-in-law, Blake Lively, who has filed a sexual harassment complaint against Baldoni with the California Department of Civil Rights. The allegations claim Baldoni engaged in predatory and unprofessional behaviour on the set of their Sony Pictures film.
In his apology, Johnson acknowledged that even when it feels justified, making unkind comments is never the right approach. He stated, “Even in times where it might ‘feel’ justified and doing the right thing, it makes no difference. There’s a better way. It’s below the standard I have for myself and I regret it”.
The High School Musical actor went on to say, “I do sincerely apologise to anyone I’ve hurt or let down by saying something that sounds mean. I’ll do better”.
He also admitted to being a work in progress, stating, “We all have flaws and I’m definitely a work in progress and doing my best to grow and be better.”
It seems like it’s business as usual on Bart’s X page, as the actor has continued to post his normal content including inspirational quotes, vox pop interviews of himself and a thank you to fans who watched him on Landman and Yellowstone.
The Baldoni and Lively drama is far from over as Justin hit back with a massive $400 million lawsuit and the first trial date in this fiasco is only set for 2026. Yes, we have more of this nonsense for more than year longer. So as Coach Bolton would say, get your head in the game, because we are in for a long ride!
