Brandon Sklenar is reflecting on the backlash he faced online after speaking out about the controversy surrounding his It Ends With Us co-stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.
In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sklenar recalls reading hate messages directed at him after he posted a note on Instagram urging fans to be kind.
“You are a piece of shit, I hope you die, I hope your career is over,” he recalls the insults directed at him.
Sklenar had addressed tensions on set during the film’s press tour in August 2024, months before Lively filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Baldoni and his co-stars.
He wrote that author Colleen Hoover and the women in the cast “represent hope, perseverance, and women choosing a better life for themselves,” and warned that defaming them detracts from the film’s message.
After Lively went public with her allegations in December 2024, Sklenar shared her complaint on Instagram Stories, urging followers to read it.
“It’s about love. It’s about supporting women. I just want people to remember what it’s about,” he said on the red carpet for the Vanity Fair Oscars in March 2025.
Despite his agent’s advice to avoid the Internet, he saw the harsh reactions firsthand, likening it to listening to a door filled with hundreds of thousands of votes.
Sklenar explained that he never meant to be controversial. “I wasn’t cursing anyone,” he said, “but I said, ‘Can we focus on the spirit of this whole damn movie and not be so obnoxious?'”
Sklenar currently stars in the thriller the maid Opposite Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney.
Meanwhile, Lively and Baldoni’s trial is scheduled for May 18, 2026.