Justin Baldoni’s lawyer has claimed “leaked” text exchanges about Blake Lively “lack critical context”.
Justin Baldoni’s lawyer has hit back at Blake Lively
The 40-year-old actor-and-director is being used by his ‘It Ends With Us’ co-star, who has accused him of sexual harassment and launching a “social manipulation” campaign against her to “destroy” her reputation, and his legal representative has now issued a new statement, in which he hit out at the former ‘Gossip Girl’ actress for using “dubious PR tactics’.
Lawyer Bryan Freedman told Us Weekly in a 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.
“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’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.”
Blake filed her lawsuit on Friday (20.12.24) and her claims were made public by the New York Times the following day, revealing references to “thousands of pages of text messages and emails”.
While it was reported the actress had obtained them through a subpoena, Baldoni’s lawyer has claimed they were leaked.
But a member of the ‘Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants’ star’s own legal team told 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.”
Among the alleged text messages referenced in the suit include a publicist working with Baldoni – who also directed ‘It Ends With Us’ – and the studio writing to a crisis management expert: “He wants to feel like she can be buried.”
The documents also alleged “this plan went well beyond standard crisis PR,” and Baldoni’s team suggested a tactic known as “astroturfing”, which is 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.”
In the paperwork, Baldoni is accused of having “set the narrative for the social media campaign”, citing a post about Hailey Bieber that had “accused another female celebrity of bullying women.” Baldoni wrote in an accompanying text: “This is what we would need.”
A scenario planning document allegedly stated: “Our team can also explore planting stories about the weaponisation of feminism and how people like Taylor Swift, have been accused of utilizing these tactics to ‘bully’ into getting what they want.”
Blake – who has also accused Baldoni of making crude comments and adding sex scenes and nudity to the script – alleged her co-star “became concerned” when “nearly all cast members chose to appear in public separately from Mr. Baldoni given his on-set behaviour” so changed his own social media strategy.
Her lawsuit stated: “After the Film’s premiere, Mr. Baldoni changed his Instagram profile, cancelled lighthearted social media posts, and instructed his team to look for survivors reactions and support — all in an effort to quickly shift his own public narrative to focus solely on survivors and domestic violence organisations.”
In the wake of the lawsuit being filed, Baldoni’s lawyer branded the allegations “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious” and accused Blake of trying to “fix her own negative reputation”.
