On Wednesday, the Hollywood Reporter actually published a piece called “How Angelina Jolie’s Abuse Claims Impact Brad Pitt’s Reputation.” This is a choice being made by one of the biggest trade papers in Hollywood to focus NOT on “how is Angelina doing after Brad Pitt abused her” or “how are the Jolie-Pitt children doing after their drunk father terrorized them on a plane.” This isn’t even about the fact that Brad Pitt sued Angelina over her sale of her ownership of Miraval, after which she RESPONDED to his lawsuit, detailing the abuse he was trying to put under a gag order. Nope. THR’s Mia Galuppo wrote a piece straight out of Brad Pitt’s management’s playbook, and by that I mean I’m sure Pitt’s crisis managers significantly guided this reporting. Some lowlights:

Brad Pitt can’t promote Babylon and pretend like nothing happened: As Paramount gears up for the December launch of Babylon, its big-budget prestige swing, the studio has to contest with headlines about its leading man, Brad Pitt. Instead of chatter about the star’s first awards hopeful since he won an Oscar for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the actor is facing accusations about a 2016 altercation on an airplane involving then-wife Angelina Jolie that have come to light amid a legal dispute over the French winery Château Miraval, which they had owned together.

Pitt’s image hasn’t been damaged: According to a THR/Morning Consult survey conducted Oct. 15 to 16 among a nationally representative sample of 2,211 adults in the U.S., the claims have not significantly damaged Pitt’s public image. There was, however, a slight change in opinion when respondents were informed of the claims. When first asked about whether respondents had a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Pitt, 70 percent answered either “very favorable” or “somewhat favorable.” When asked a second time, after being prompted in the Morning Consult survey about Jolie’s abuse allegations directed toward Pitt, that combined number slipped to 65 percent.

The male/female breakdowns: Fewer women reported interest in seeing a film starring the actor compared with men, with 49 percent of women saying they were “somewhat” or “very” interested in seeing a film starring Pitt, compared with 56 percent of men. Breaking down responses by age, two-thirds of those 35-to-44 (66 percent) said they were “somewhat” or “very” interested in seeing a film starring Pitt, compared with 54 percent of those 18-to-34 and 50 percent of 45-to-64. The perception of older audiences is important, considering the demo was seen as a driver behind the success of Pitt’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ($142 million domestic) and Bullet Train ($103 million domestic).

The pre-Christmas release of Babylon: Insiders note Pitt remains a consistently bankable movie star and a direct path to a guaranteed green light, and the lawsuit and subsequent allegations will not change that. Still, the claims remain a more immediate “PR nightmare,” as one executive put it, that will likely lead to Pitt not being a major presence on the Babylon press tour. “You think Paramount is thrilled? No,” says one rival studio executive. “It could make press [for Pitt] hard, but the town will rally around Brad.”

[FromTHR]

I’m reminded of all of THR’s “brutally honest Oscar ballots” and during the Oscar season where Pitt was nominated for Once Upon a Time, there were unnamed male producers falling all over themselves to lavish praise and flattery on Pitt and his performance as a man who likely murdered his wife. My point is that there is a significant portion of Hollywood which will stand with Pitt no matter what, and the Venn diagram of Pitt’s ride-or-die supporters and Johnny Depp’s ride-or-die supporters is probably a circle. But don’t dismiss Angelina’s popularity – she’s worked for Disney and Marvel recently in the past decade, and those are powerful allies to have in that town. Jolie has a lot of quiet support from heavy-hitters. Right now, Jolie isn’t making people take sides, she’s merely responding to Pitt’s increasingly unhinged media and legal moves.

I also wonder if this piece was the start of a larger explanation for Pitt’s absence during this awards season, not only for Babylon but also for She Said, which he produced. While Pitt has been credibly accused of domestic abuse and child abuse (including choking one of his children), he’s also got a history of working with the degenerate serial rapist Harvey Weinstein even after Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina both told him that Weinstein assaulted them.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.