So, the supposedly un-cancelable Blake Lively is getting canceled. Who knew that the actor-producer’s ill-fated promotion of her latest film It Ends With Us would do her in? The accusations against her include downplaying domestic violence—the central theme of both the book and the movie adaptation—, deliberately isolating director Justin Baldoni, shamelessly promoting her new haircare brand Blake Brown Beauty during the movie’s promotions, and, most notably, bullying Norwegian journalist Kjersti Flaa during a 2016 interview

Ms Lively may not have seen this coming, considering how well it was going for her and her husband Ryan Reynold recently.

The two tried pulling a “Barbenheimer” moment with Reynolds’ Deadpool & Wolverine, which has become a $1 billion juggernaut. Needless to say, no one was impressed with Lively’s frivolous handling of the movie promotion, which needed more gravitas considering the seriousness of the film’s subject matter.

Her shout-out to viewers, asking them to come in droves wearing “florals” to the movie left many shocked.

In sharp contrast was Baldoni who made the right noises, using his interviews and promotions to create awareness about domestic violence.

.@justinbaldoni had never read a romance book before “It Ends With Us” — so, what made him want to adapt, direct and star in the film?

He tells CBS Mornings about the emotional experience of reading the book and how author Colleen Hoover gave him the confidence to cast himself. pic.twitter.com/vtTz4zn2ri

— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) August 7, 2024

What’s to like about Lively?

Lively, who rose to fame with the wildly popular Gossip Girl series, has always been a media darling, celebrated for her beauty, charisma, and marriage to Ryan Reynolds. Despite famously refusing to hire a stylist, she consistently delivers stunning sartorial choices.

Don’t get me wrong. I dislike Lively as much as the next person, and I’d be lying if I said that I haven’t been enjoying the bit of schadenfreude associated with her splendid unravelling.

Like the other members of her clique of Hollywood phonies, there is something insincere about her curated wholesomeness, which has forever put me off against any celebrity who crow extensively about “kindness” ala Ellen DeGeneres, Megan Markle and Chrissy Teigen. My disdain for Lively grew after she mocked Princess Katherine of Wales in March 2024 and then delivered a half-baked apology when the royal’s cancer diagnosis was made public.

However, events of the recent past have also forced me to wonder whether Lively deserves to get dogpiled or not. Her Instagram comment section is littered with nasty comments and curses, many from those who held her in very high regard once.

What is dogpiling?

Let’s get a little more technical. Dogpiling is a type of where a famous person endures a sustained or targeted attack with multiple people using the moment of cancellation to level more accusations on the celebrity. Case in point, Blake Lively.

It can include but is not limited to forms of online abuse such as flaming, doxing and public shaming.

When murmurs about her mean-girl act with director Baldoni started doing the rounds, the internet started slapping receipt after receipt to confirm that Lively isn’t anyone’s friend.

People brought up her tone-deaf romanticisation of antebellum America when slavery was rampant and her choice to get married on the Boone Hall plantation with a grim history of slave-owning. Some even raked up the circumstances that led to Reynolds’ divorce from former wife Scarlett Johansson, implying that Lively had a role to play.

To add a cherry atop this sh*tstorm sundae, Flaa dropped her 2016 interview with Lively.

The actor’s comment section is a cesspool of mean comments. “She sounds so uneducated, can she please be cancelled?” read one of the most up-voted comments. Some even made meanspirited comparisons between Lively and her husband’s ex wife.

Everyone had Blake Lively story on social media forums such as Reddit. “I always knew she was a mean girl,” was the overarching sentiment in every comment.

My issue with dogpiling

Dogpiling is a type of mob mentality, which we know is dangerous, especially on the internet where trolls can do great damage to reputations under the garb of anonymity and zero accountability.

During the peak of a cancellation spree, people are quick to believe almost any nasty rumour about a celebrity. Someone might claim she refused to sign an autograph, or said no to a selfie, is a bad tipper, or even snatched candy from a child—and the mob will believe it completely. Unfortunately, celebrities often can’t do much to defend themselves.

The Selena Gomez vs Hailey Bieber fan feud is a great example. Fans from both camps fanned misinformation campaigns and went to great lengths to harass the celebs. They deliberately misinterpreted harmless gestures to justify the trolling.

Of course, one can argue that the loss of privacy and agency is a part of the gilded celeb life, but that doesn’t give anyone the right to ruin reputations that they took years to build.

Celeb-bashing and celeb-worshiping are also two sides of the same coin – it’s wrong to take either to the extremes.

There is an unsettlingly large number of people who are shocked by Lively’s mean side. They were genuinely baffled by the thought that a celebrity who preached about kindness and paraded her “relatable marriage” schtick was a bad person. A good place to start if you don’t want to ruin the illusions about your favourite celeb is to not idolise them in the first place.

Death threats, jibes and curses can’t reform a celebrity who is always validated by his or her yes men and fans. In such instances, celebrities often follow a pattern of playing the victim and complaining about online bullying. This allows them to reclaim their narrative and avoid apologizing.

In almost all cases, the cancelled celeb lays low, surfacing just in time when people have forgotten all about the controversy. What’s the point in dogpiling anyway?

Before, Lively, it was Katy Perry who was being raked through the coals, and before Perry, it was Jennifer Lopez. Surely enough, there will be a celeb who will take over from Lively, and we will forget all about her.

It’s well within our right to criticise, but one shouldn’t forget that despite the millions in their bank accounts, god-tier facial proportions, palatial mansions and all the trappings of a luxurious life, celebrities are as fallible as the rest of us.

That doesn’t make them good or bad, just human.