Blake Lively Lawsuit Summary: Explosive Allegations

December 20 Blake Lively filed a lawsuit against her It ends with us actor, producer and director, Justin Baldonihis production company and publicists for alleged sexual harassment and allegedly campaigning to “destroy” her. The complaint, which is a precursor to the lawsuit, contained explosive documents and text of subpoenas between Baldoni and his publicists. After a legal complaint New York Times wrote a simultaneous expose of the social media tactics allegedly employed by Baldoni and his team. For those catching up, here’s a recap of Blake Lively’s lawsuit and allegations, as well as Justin Baldoni’s counterclaim and response.

Who is being sued?

The complaint names the following defendants:

• Wayfarer Studios (a production company owned by Justin Baldoni)
• Justin Baldoni (actor, director, producer)
• Jamie Heath (CEO of Wayfarer Studios and Executive Producer It ends with us)
• Steve Sarowitz (co-owner of Wayfarer with Baldoni)
• Melissa Nathan (publicist, crisis PR expert)
• The Agency Group (Melissa Nathan agency)
• Jennifer Abel (Baldoni’s publicist)
• RWA Communications (Jennifer Abel Agency)
• Jed Wallace (publicist)
• Street Relations Inc (Jed Wallace Agency) and
• 1-100 “Who” (a legal term describing a number of anonymous people, such as Jane or John Dose, possibly involved in a case)

All the allegations are denied, with legal representatives for Baldoni and Wayfarer calling them “categorically false”. (Read the statements below)

A summary of the charges

According to legal complaintLively seeks damages for sexual harassment, retaliation, failure to investigate, prevent or remedy harassment, aiding and abetting harassment and retaliation, breach of contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, wrongful invasion of privacy and interference with future economic advantage.

The wildest claims from Blake Lively’s lawsuit

The 81-page court filing contains explosive allegations and includes documents and text messages as alleged evidence of Lively’s claims.

That Justin Baldoni and his team allegedly intended to “destroy” Blake Lively’s reputation

Much of the lawsuit focuses on a concerted effort to allegedly damage Blake Lively’s image, including several strategies allegedly used as a means to that end. In one example, the legal document says Baldoni focused on domestic violence during It ends with us the press tour was a publicity stunt aimed at “protecting one’s image”. It also claims that the attempt to damage Lively’s image was funded by billionaire Steve Sarowitz.

“Nor was the public aware that this was the beginning of a multi-level plan that Mr. Baldoni and his team described as ‘social manipulation’ to ‘destroy’ Ms. Lively’s reputation,” the lawsuit said. “This plan was supported by virtually unlimited resources. Wayfarer’s co-founder, co-chairman and lead financier is multi-billionaire Steve Sarowitz, who announced at the film’s New York premiere on August 6, 2024 that he was willing to spend $100 million to destroy the lives of Ms. Lively and her family. With that support, Mr. Baldoni and his colleagues at Wayfarer launched an elaborate press and digital plan in response to Ms. Lively exercising her legally protected right to speak out about their inappropriate behavior on set, with the added goal of intimidating her and anyone else. otherwise from the public disclosure of what really happened.”

Those involved have denied the allegations.

Subpoenaed text messages

The legal complaint details the alleged strategies used by Baldoni and his team of publicists, crisis managers and PR strategists, including Jennifer Abel, Jed Wallace and Melissa Nathan, to allegedly “destroy” the reputation of Lively and her family.

A string of text messages obtained by Lively’s legal team through a subpoena include statements Nathan allegedly made that she could “bury anyone.” Baldoni’s texts include one shared reference to an article that accused another female celebrity of abusing women. Baldoni allegedly wrote: “This is what we’re going to need.”

Other claims include that the team allegedly planted the story Daily Mailwith the headline “Blake Lively set to CANCEL?”. The texts between Nathan and Abel seem to revel in the success of the campaign, with Abel allegedly writing to Nathan, “You really outdid yourself with this piece,” and Nathan responding, “That’s why you hired me, right? I’m the best.”

Baldoni’s legal team called the correspondence in the lawsuit “selective” and “standard” among PR professionals.

How did Justin Baldoni react to the lawsuit?

The individuals named as defendants in the lawsuit deny the allegations, and attorney Brian Friedman filed statement to New York Times on behalf of Baldoni and other defendants. The statement called the allegations “categorically false” and “another desperate attempt by (Lively) to fix her negative reputation.”

“It is disgraceful that Ms. Lively and her representatives are making such serious and blatantly false allegations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and their representatives as yet another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation that was earned through her own comments and actions during the campaign the film; interviews and press activity observed publicly, in real time and without editing, allowing the Internet to generate its own views and opinions,” the statement begins. “These statements are completely false, outrageous, and intentionally obscene to publicly offend and reframe the media narrative.”

The statement said Wayfarer made the decision to bring in a crisis manager in response to “multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production, which included her threats not to show up on set, threats to withdraw from promoting the film, ultimately leading to his death at the time of dismissal, if her demands are not met.” The statement also alleges that Lively brought in her own PR team to “push negative, completely fabricated and false stories to the media.”

“What is clearly missing from the selected correspondence is evidence that no preventative measures were taken with the media or otherwise; only internal script planning and private correspondence to develop strategy, which is standard operating procedure for public relations professionals.’ Read the full statement here.

Justin Baldoni is filing a counterclaim

Not only has Baldoni vehemently denied Lively’s allegations against him, now reports It ends with us the star intends to file a lawsuit against his colleague.

Baldoni’s attorney, Brian Friedman, said the issue is not whether a lawsuit will be filed, but when and “how many” lawsuits.

“I’m not going to talk about when or how many lawsuits we file, but when we do file our first lawsuit, it will shock everyone who has been manipulated into believing a story that is patently false,” Friedman said. Deadline.

“It will be supported by real evidence and tell the real story. In over 30 years of practice, I have never seen this level of unethical behavior intentionally fueled by media manipulation.

“It reminds me of what NBC tried to do with Megyn Kelly and Gabrielle Union, and we all know how that ended up. In standby mode.

The lawsuit is believed to allege that the texts Lively obtained through a subpoena were misrepresented, and that Lively’s lawsuit is an alleged attempt to restore her image after negative press during It ends with us tour.

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