Justin Baldoni’ is once again trying to clear his sullied name.
Last week, the actor was sued for sexual harassment by It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively, who alleged that Baldoni caused “severe emotional distress” to Lively as a result of his toxic behavior on the set of this film.
Such supposed behavior included “showing nude videos or images of women to Blake,” along with discussion of Baldoni’s past “pornography addiction” or “sexual conquests.”
Lively also believes Baldoni engaged in a smear campaign to “destroy” her reputation.
In regard to this “social manipulation” campaign, as deemed as such in Lively’s lawsuit, a lawyer for Baldoni has now issued a new statement.
“TAG PR operated as any other crisis management firm would when hired by a client experiencing threats by two extremely powerful people with unlimited resources,” Bryan Freedman told Us Weekly, citing the company that was hired by Baldoni and is one of several firms named in Lively’s legal papers.
“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 seems unlikely Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni will share the screen ever again. (Sony Pictures Releasing / courtesy Everett Collection)
As part of her lawsuit, Lively shared text messages seemingly sent by members of Baldoni’s public relations team — all of which hinted at the aforementioned attempt to smear the actress.
In his statement, Freedman claimed these text exchanges between Baldoni and his PR team in the lawsuit were taken out of context, stating:
“It’s ironic that the New York Times, through their effort to ‘uncover’ an insidious PR effort, played directly into the hands of Lively’s own dubious PR tactics by publishing leaked personal text exchanges that lack critical context — the very same tactics she’s accusing the firm of implementing.”
Lively’s lengthy court documents were filed on Friday, December 20.
Blake Lively poses on the red carpet upon arrival to attend the UK gala screening for “It ends with us” at the Odeon Luxe in Leicester square, central London on August 8, 2024. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP) (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
They were initially published by The New York Times over this past weekend and they refer to “thousands of pages of text messages and emails” that Lively reportedly obtained through a subpoena … although Freedman now claims they were leaked.
In response to that claim and Freedman’s latest message, a member of Lively’s legal team tells Us Weekly:
“The subpoena disclosed and referenced in the Complaint was served on Jonesworks LLC. The internal documents referred to in the Complaint were produced subject to that subpoena.
“We expect that further details regarding the subpoena process will be disclosed during discovery.”
Blake Lively attends the “It Ends With Us” UK Gala Screening at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on August 08, 2024. (Photo Credit: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Sony Pictures)
One of the alleged texts making headlines across the Internet include a publicist working with the studio and Baldoni writing to a crisis management expert:
“He wants to feel like she can be buried.”
The paperwork goes on to claim that “this plan went well beyond standard crisis PR,” alleging Baldoni’s team proposed a concept called “‘astroturfing.”
This has been defined as ‘the practice of publishing opinions or comments on the internet, in the media, etc. that appear to come from ordinary members of the public but actually come from a particular company or political group.’”
