Blake Lively’s numerous accusations against her “It Ends With Us” co-star/director Justin Baldoni, and his crisis PR reps, have resulted in Baldoni’s lawyers, and his Wayfarer Studios, denying the “smear.”
They’re calling the leaked text messages “cherry-picked” and that they have deceived the public into thinking Lively was a victim. The texts not included in the recent leak apparently “don’t fit the narrative” being constructed by Lively and her lawyers. We’ll see about that.
Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, defended his client in a statement on Monday shared with several outlets including Rolling Stone, The Hollywood Reporter and Us Weekly:
TAG PR operated as any other crisis management firm would when hired by a client experiencing threats by two extremely powerful people [Lively & Ryan Reynolds] with unlimited resources. The standard scenario planning TAG PR drafted proved unnecessary as audiences found Lively’s own actions, interviews and marketing during the promotional tour distasteful, and responded organically to that which the media themselves picked up on.
It should be pointed out that Lively’s 12.20.24 complaint against Baldoni, via the California Civil Rights Department, is not formally a lawsuit. It’s more of warning text, mentioning numerous attempts by Lively to stop Baldoni’s accused harassment, along with a cameo by spouse Ryan Reynolds aka Deadpool. It’s not yet a lawsuit. However, unless there is a settlement between both parties, Lively will likely be filing one soon in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Lively has, quite expectedly, been receiving strong support from a load of Hollywood celeb friends, including Paul Feig, Jenny Slate, Amy Schumer, Shawn Levy, Christina Ricci, Gwyneth Paltrow and — gulp — Amber Heard.
I am absolutely convinced that the goal here is a settlement. Lively wants the rights to the sequel of “It Ends With Us,” which Baldoni is currently holding hostage. Something tells me, and purely based on the way his lawyers are speaking, that Baldoni won’t be settling any time soon.
Baldoni’s team is maintaining its innocence, implying that the leaked texts was his team having “joked privately to each other about the internet’s feedback to the woman whose team was making our lives incredibly difficult over the course of the [shoot].”
Baldoni additionally claims the leaked texts were cherry picked in a way that anything can be made to “look” bad, adding that there was no “smear” campaign, as the internet did their jobs for them.
It’s now up to Lively and her lawyers to prove that what Baldoni did caused her harm. What I find most interesting is the amount of leeway and freedom Lively received in making “It Ends With Us.” All reports are pointing towards her having basically stolen the film from Baldoni. She had the film edited to her liking. She even brought in Reynolds to write a few scenes. This ended up being her project and not Baldoni’s who, ironically, was the one who brought Lively onboard as he owned the rights to the project.
Suffice to say that this is just getting started and things are about to get real nasty between Baldoni and Lively. Buckle up.
Jeremy Saulnier’s mysterious A24 project, formerly “October,” still has no release date. You’d think, given that it has been in post-production for almost a year now.