Blake Lively’s legal team has strongly rejected continued attacks from Justin Baldoni and his legal representatives since news broke in December about her sexual harassment complaint against him. The actress initially filed her complaint against Baldoni, her co-star and director in It Ends With Us, followed by a lawsuit on New Year’s Eve. She also sued Baldoni’s production company, Wayfarer Studios, and his publicists, Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel.
Baldoni has denied the allegations in both Lively’s complaint and the lawsuit, which mirrors the actress’s earlier accusations. In retaliation, he filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against The New York Times for reporting Lively’s claims.
Lively’s attorneys responded on January 6, telling People that her “serious claims of sexual harassment and retaliation” are backed by solid evidence. They emphasized that this isn’t just a “he said/she said” dispute or a result of “creative differences” but is rooted in serious allegations. According to Lively’s team, Wayfarer Studios and its associates resorted to “unlawful, retaliatory astroturfing” against Lively for trying to protect herself and others on set. They also accused Baldoni and his team of using a “classic tactic” of victim-blaming to deflect from the misconduct.
Baldoni’s legal team, led by attorney Bryan Freedman, responded by claiming that Baldoni is “absolutely” planning to sue Lively, with the actor presenting “every single text message” between them as evidence of his innocence. Freedman stressed that they want to make the documents public to let people judge the situation based on the facts.
Meanwhile, The New York Times stands by its reporting, saying that its story was “meticulously and responsibly” researched, based on a thorough review of thousands of pages of original documents, which were quoted extensively in their article, We Can Bury Anyone: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.