Exclusive: Hours after Justin Baldoni filed a $400 million defamation and extortion lawsuit against Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, today…It doesn't end with us The star and her legal team clapped wildly.
“This latest lawsuit filed by Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its partners is another chapter in the abuser’s playbook,” Lively’s lawyers Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP said this evening in a statement provided to Deadline.
“This is an old story: A woman speaks out with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation, and the abuser tries to turn the tables on the victim. This is what experts call a darvo. Deny. Attack. The perpetrator reverses the victim.”
“Their response to sexual harassment allegations: 'She wanted it, and it's her fault,'” attorneys added to Baldoni and his gang's federal filing in New York on Thursday morning.
“Their justification for why this happened to her: Look at what she was wearing,” Lively's team goes on to say in some clever narration of their own after Baldoni's 179-page omnibus is dropped on the court docket. “In short, while the victim focuses on the abuse, the abuser focuses on the victim. The strategy of attacking the woman is desperate, does not refute the evidence in Ms. Lively's complaint, and will fail.”
Read the full statement from Blake Lively's defense team in response to Justin Baldoni's $400 million defamation lawsuit below
Of course, as it turns out today and over the past few weeks, Baldoni, Wayferer Studios CEO Janie Heath, and Crisis PR head Melissa Nathan (who worked for Johnny Depp during his dirty, dirty, and ultimately successful legal battles with his ex-wife and her husband) Aquaman Star Amber Heard and publicist Jennifer Appel insist they are the real victims here.
“Deep down, this is not a case about celebrities sniping at each other in the press,” declared the Baldoni jury seeking to file a complaint today in New York federal court against Lively, Reynolds, her publicist Leslie Sloan and her company VisionPR, as the Deadpool movie unfolds. & Wolverine, Los Angeles wildfires, uncredited Taylor Swift, The New York Times, and more.
Baldoni's legal action on Thursday is the latest in an ever-growing series of filings, the agency's pink slips and lawsuits over what might happen in… And it ends with us The alleged smear campaign that followed began with a sexual harassment and retaliation complaint that Lively filed on December 20 with the California Department of Civil Rights. since then, New York Times A very detailed story titled “We Can Bury Anyone: Inside the Hollywood Smear Machine” was published on December 21, and Baldoni and his gang sued Gray Lady in Los Angeles for defamation for $250 million on December 31. Lively sued her co-star and co-stars in the same manner. Today with most of what is stated in her CRD complaint.
Additionally, Stephanie Jones, founder of Baldoni's former public relations firm and publicist Jennifer Appel's former employer, has filed her own lawsuit against her former client and former employee. Additionally, among subpoenas, the attorney's media appearances and more, Baldoni's team sent an evidence preservation letter on January 7, just before the fires exploded in Los Angeles, to Disney CEO Bob Iger and Marvel President Kevin Feige about the vet's feelings Jane the Virgin, who was mocked and bullied by Reynolds as her Napoleon character Deadpool Wolverine.
Or as today's “I Didn't Stain You Stained Me” document states, it's messy.
“This is a case involving two of the most powerful stars in the world exploiting their immense power to steal an entire film right out of the hands of the director and his production studio,” a 179-page text and email filing from Los Angeles explains. New York-based attorney Brian Friedman and Meister Seelig & Fein PLLC in New York City. “Then, when Lively and Reynolds’ efforts failed to win the acclaim they believed they so richly deserved, they directed their rage at their chosen scapegoat,” plaintiffs Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, the public relations team Nathan and Appel, and others allege. “Tolerating their behavior for a year and a half while remaining polite and professional at every turn provided Badoni and Wayfarer with no protection.”
Baldoni and his fellow plaintiffs want a jury trial. And they might understand, if all of these matters aren't settled in a law firm's boardroom within the next few months – which seems unlikely at this stage. Then again, hell, a federal court might connect or merge Lively's NYE suit with Baldoni's today for the sake of expediency — but you can bet there's still more to come.
Read the full statement from Blake Lively's legal team today below:
This latest lawsuit filed by Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and its partners is another chapter in the abuser's playbook. This is an old story: a woman speaks out with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation, and the attacker tries to turn the tables on the victim. This is what experts call Darvo. He denies. attacks. The opposite of the perpetrator and the victim.
Wayfarer has chosen to use the resources of its billionaire founder to issue media releases, launch baseless lawsuits, and threaten litigation to overwhelm the public's ability to understand that what they are doing is retaliation for sexual harassment allegations.
They are trying to shift the narrative to Ms. Lively by falsely claiming that she has seized creative control and alienated actors from Mr. Baldoni. The evidence will show that the actors and others had their own negative experiences with Mr. Baldoni and the Wayfarer. The evidence will also show that Sony asked Ms. Lively to supervise Sony's production of the film, which they then selected for distribution and became a huge success.
Their response to sexual harassment allegations: She wanted it, and it's her fault. Their justification for what happened to her: Look what she was wearing. In short, while the victim focuses on the abuse, the abuser focuses on the victim. The strategy of attacking the woman is desperate, does not refute the evidence in Ms. Lively's complaint, and will fail.
