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 of their own narrative narration. “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, Baldoni, Wayferer Studios CEO Janie Heath, Crisis PR head Melissa Nathan (who worked for Johnny Depp during his ultimately successful legal battles with ex-wife and 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, lawsuits and lawsuits over what may have happened on It Ends With Us and the alleged smear campaign that followed that began with Lively’s December 20 sexual harassment and retaliation complaint with ca. Civil Rights Department. Since then, The New York Times published a big story titled “We Can Bury Anyone: Inside the Hollywood Smear Machine” on December 21, and Baldoni and his gang sued the Gray Lady in Los Angeles for defamation and damages for $250 million on December 31. /December, Lively also filed a lawsuit against her co-star. On the same day, it is consistent with most of what was stated in her CRD complaint.
Add to that, 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 was mocked and bullied by Reynolds as Nicepool, who appeared in Deadpool & Wolverine.
Or as today’s “I Didn’t Stain You Stained Me” document states, it is 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. Hell, a federal court might tie up or merge Lively’s NYE lawsuit with Baldoni’s existing lawsuit for interest — but you can bet there’s still more to come.
Read the full statement from Blake Lively’s legal team 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 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.