Justin Baldoni on Thursday, August 08, 2024
Originally appeared on E! Online
Justin Baldoni's lawyer has spoken out following allegations Blake Lively made about the director of their movie "It Ends With Us."
In a legal complaint obtained by E! News Dec. 21 and filed with the California Civil Rights Department, per The New York Times, the actress — a coproducer of the film — accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and retaliation. She alleged that he made sexual and other inappropriate comments to her and used a crisis PR expert to launch a smear campaign against her.
"It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives," Baldoni's attorney Bryan Freedman said in a statement to The New York Times, referring to the production company the director cofounded.
The complaint was filed following months of rumors of a rift between Baldoni and Lively, who did not promote the movie together during their press tour.
READ Blake Lively Sues It Ends With Us' Justin Baldoni for Sexual Harassment
The director's lawyer called Lively's allegations in the complaint "yet another desperate attempt to 'fix' her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film; interviews and press activities that were observed publicly, in real time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions."
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The statement continued, "These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media."
He said Wayfarer Studios "made the decision to proactively hire a crisis manager prior to the marketing campaign of the film" due to alleged "multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production which included her threatening to not showing up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met."
In her own statement to The New York Times, Lively said, "I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted."
She also denied that she or any of her representatives planted or spread negative information about Baldoni or Wayfarer, the newspaper reported.
E! News has reached out to Lively and Baldoni's teams for comment and has not heard back.
