Blake Lively counters the “false premise” of Justin Baldoni’s $250 million New York Times defamation lawsuit
As the new year begins, a pair of lawsuits from the former It ends with us collaborator Blake is lively And Justin Baldoni is making waves throughout Hollywood.
Baldoni, director and co-leader of big screen adaptation belong to Colleen Hooverbest-selling book of 2016, is sue New York Times for defamation and wrongful invasion of privacy in a December 21 article titled “’We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside the Hollywood Smear Machine.” The article reported that Baldoni sexual harassment and then hired a crisis PR firm to run a smear campaign against her. Vivid original submission a complaint against Baldoni, his manufacturing company Wayfarer, and others allegedly involved in the smear campaign, with California’s Department of Civil Rights. And on Tuesday, the day Baldoni filed his $250 million defamation lawsuit against time, Lively also filed a lawsuit in New York federal court.
The latest litigation comes on the heels of an earlier lawsuit rumors of discord between Lively and Baldoniwho did not fulfill any general press obligations during the August deployment for It ends with us. The film ultimately grossed more than $350 million worldwide. Talk about the co-star’s relationship was quiet until around December, when New York Times’ report has detailed text messages and emails that Lively’s team received through subpoena, appearing to show a coordinated plan to spin stories about Lively that could tarnish its reputation. her.
In a written statement shared with the media, including with Vanity Fair, “I hope that my legal action will help lift the veil on these sinister retaliatory tactics that harm those who speak out about wrongdoing and help protect others who may is the goal”.
Lively’s statement focuses on Baldoni, as well It ends with us manufacturer James Heath; Co-founder of Wayfarer Studio Steve Sarowitz; Baldoni’s journalist, Jennifer Abel; And Melissa Nathan, crisis PR director Baldoni hired when the film was released. Those five people are now suing time, asserts that the idea that they “orchestrated a public relations campaign to retaliate against Lively for speaking out about sexual harassment… is completely false and easily dismissed,” according to suit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
As first reported by Diversity on December 31, Baldoni’s lawsuit claims that time “relies almost entirely on Lively’s unverified and self-serving narrative,” alleging that the digital correspondence the report cites is “selective” and “stripped of necessary context and intentionally Love is paired to deceive.” The lawsuit also alleges the agency did not give Baldoni and his team enough time to respond to Lively’s allegations before the story was published, which allegedly occurred nearly two hours earlier than expected. and 14 hours after they were first contacted by the newspaper.
“The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts where they lead,” said a spokesperson New York Times said in a statement to the press. “Our story was reported meticulously and responsibly. It is based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including text messages and emails, which we quote at length and accurately in the article. We have published full statement in response to the allegations in the article. We plan to vigorously defend against the lawsuit.” In an email sent to Vanity Fair, one time The spokesperson disputed the claim that the newspaper did not provide enough time to respond to the allegations and said that “Baldoni, Wayfarer and others have chosen not to have any conversations with time or address any particular text message or document.”
