Justin Baldoni is taking legal action after being accused of sexual harassment and a smear campaign by It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively.
The 40-year-old actor and filmmaker just filed a $250 million libel and false light invasion of privacy lawsuit, but it’s not aimed at Blake.
Justin and a group of plaintiffs, which includes publicists Jennifer Abel and Melissa Nathan, have filed the lawsuit against The New York Times over its article titled “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.”
The new lawsuit “accuses the Times of promissory fraud and breach of implied-in-fact contract,” according to Variety. The plaintiffs claim the NY Times relied on “‘cherry-picked’ and altered communications stripped of necessary context and deliberately spliced to mislead.”
Keep reading to find out more…
One example given notes how Blake‘s legal documents claim how Justin “repeatedly entered her makeup trailer uninvited while she was undressed, including when she was breastfeeding.” Justin provided a text from Blake in which she allegedly told him, “I’m just pumping in my trailer if you wanna work out our lines.”
Justin‘s lawsuit states, “The Times story 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.”
The lawsuit also claims that Blake never actually filed a lawsuit against Justin, as has been widely reported in the media. Variety reports that Blake‘s team filed an 80-page letter with the California Civil Rights Department.
“Notably, Lively chose not to file a lawsuit against Baldoni, Wayfarer, or any of the Plaintiffs — a choice that spared her from the scrutiny of the discovery process, including answering questions under oath and producing her communications. This decision was no accident,” the lawsuit notes.
Justin‘s lawyer told Variety that the Times “cowered to the wants and whims of two powerful ‘untouchable’ Hollywood elites, disregarding journalistic practices and ethics once befitting of the revered publication by using doctored and manipulated texts and intentionally omitting texts which dispute their chosen PR narrative.”
Read the full statement below, which was provided to JustJared.com.
In doing so, they pre-determined the outcome of their story, and aided and abetted their own devastating PR smear campaign designed to revitalize Lively’s self-induced floundering public image and counter the organic groundswell of criticism amongst the online public. The irony is rich.
Make no mistake however, as we all unite to take down The NY Times by no longer allowing them to deceive the public, we will continue this campaign of authenticity by also suing those individuals who have abused their power to try and destroy the lives of my clients. While their side embraces partial truths, we embrace the full truth – and have all of the communications to back it. The public will decide for themselves as they did when this first began.
You can read more claims on Variety.com.
Look back at the 10 biggest allegations mentioned in Blake‘s legal documents and see a recap all of the celebs that are named in her suit.
