The controversy surrounding all the drama with ‘It Ends With Us’ has taken a legal spin, with director Justin Baldoni filing a $250 million lawsuit against The New York Times for libel and false light invasion of privacy.
The lawsuit, submitted in Los Angeles Superior Court on New Year’s Eve, accuses the publication of publishing defamatory claims stemming from allegations made by actress Blake Lively.
Baldoni’s lawsuit, which includes co-plaintiffs such as publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel and producers Jamey Heath and Steve Sarowitz, challenges the December 21 article titled “We Can Bury Anyone: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.” Baldoni and his team claim the article relied on “cherry-picked” and manipulated communications that painted a misleading narrative.
Attorney Bryan Freedman, representing Baldoni, accused both Lively and The New York Times of orchestrating a “vicious smear campaign.” In a report on USA Today, Freedman stated, “In this vicious smear campaign fully orchestrated by Blake Lively and her team, The New York Times cowered to the wants and whims of two powerful ‘untouchable’ Hollywood elites… using doctored and manipulated texts and intentionally omitting texts which dispute their chosen PR narrative.”
Baldoni’s lawsuit says the newspaper “relied almost entirely on Lively’s unverified and self-serving narrative, lifting it nearly verbatim while disregarding an abundance of evidence that contradicted her claims and exposed her true motives. But the Times did not care.”
The complaint specifically highlights discrepancies in the presentation of text exchanges. For instance, a June 2023 chat between Baldoni and Lively, initially cordial and professional, was allegedly portrayed by the Times as evidence of ‘inappropriate behaviour’.
The lawsuit says that “If the Times truly reviewed the thousands of private communications it claimed to have obtained, its reporters would have seen incontrovertible evidence that it was Lively, not Plaintiffs, who engaged in a calculated smear campaign.”
Interestingly, Lively is not a defendant in the lawsuit.
The complaint also alleges Lively’s husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, berated Baldoni during a heated meeting, accusing him of “fat-shaming” Lively and pressuring Baldoni’s agency, WME, to sever ties with him during the ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ premiere, long before the PR fiasco.
Responding to the lawsuit, a New York Times spokesperson said, “The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts where they lead. Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. We plan to vigorously defend against the lawsuit.”
Lively’s legal team also addressed the allegations, stating Baldoni’s claims do not undermine her previously filed California Civil Rights Department complaint. “As demonstrated by the federal complaint filed by Ms. Lively earlier today, that frame of reference for the Wayfarer lawsuit is false,” her statement read.
The romantic drama It Ends With Us, based on Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel, premiered in August to impressive box office success, opening with a $50 million debut. However, its release was overshadowed by ongoing rumours of tension between director Justin Baldoni and star Blake Lively. Baldoni maintained a low profile during the film’s promotional activities, while Lively, joined by her husband Ryan Reynolds—who was simultaneously promoting Deadpool and Wolverine—took centre stage on the press circuit.
Baldoni was dropped by his agency, WME, immediately after Lively filed her complaint and the Times published its story.
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