5 big takeaways from Justin Baldoni’s lawsuit against The New York Times over its Blake Lively story

Justin Baldoni sued The New York Times over its bombshell story on his “It Ends With Us” costar Blake Lively’s sexual-harassment claims against him.

The libel lawsuit, filed Tuesday and reviewed by B-17, accused the Times of relying “almost entirely” on what it described as “Lively’s unverified and self-serving narrative” and said the newspaper disregarded in its December 21 story “an abundance of evidence that contradicted her claims and exposed her true motives.”

The suit said Lively embarked on a negative PR campaign against Baldoni and that she falsely accused him of sexual harassment to gain control over every aspect of the production. The lawsuit included screenshots of messages that it said contradicted the Times’ reporting.

The suit is the latest legal action to emerge from the romantic drama, which premiered this past summer.

A New York Times spokesperson said Wednesday the story was “meticulously and responsibly reported” based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including text messages and emails quoted “accurately and at length in the article.”

“We published their full statement in response to the allegations in the article as well,” the spokesperson said. “We plan to vigorously defend against the lawsuit.”

A representative for Lively, who is not named as a defendant in the libel lawsuit, said in a statement Wednesday that “nothing in the lawsuit changes anything” about the claims in her California Civil Rights Department complaint, which the Times story cited, or a federal complaint she filed on Tuesday. The rep said they planned to address the suit’s allegations in court.

Reps for Baldoni; Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds; and others named in the suit did not respond to requests for comment.

The suit said the plaintiffs — including Baldoni, his publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, and the producers Jamey Heath and Steve Sarowitz — suffered damages that amounted to at least $250 million.

“This lawsuit seeks to hold the Times accountable for its role in this defamation campaign, but plaintiffs are not done,” lawyers for Baldoni said in the suit. “There are other bad actors involved, and make no mistake — this will not be the last lawsuit.”

Here’s a breakdown of the top takeaways in the suit:

Baldoni and his fellow plaintiffs claim the Times article missed key context, wrongly bolstering Lively’s case

Justin Baldoni.

Lively’s California Civil Rights Department complaint, as reported by the Times, said Baldoni used the public-relations pros Nathan and Abel to spread negative content about Lively with the press, fearing that she would come forward with complaints about Baldoni and Jamey Heath, the lead producer of “It Ends With US” and the CEO of their production company, Wayfarer Studios.

The Times story included a text exchange that was part of Lively’s complaint. In the texts, Nathan and Abel discussed a Daily Mail story that described Lively’s promotion of the domestic-violence-themed film as “tone deaf.”

“You really outdid yourself with this piece,” Abel wrote, to which Nathan replied: “That’s why you hired me right? I’m the best.”‘

The libel suit said the Times omitted a text from Nathan preceding the exchange where she said she was uninvolved in the story’s publication, writing, “Damn this is unfair because it’s also not me.”

The suit said the Times also didn’t include Abel’s use of the upside-down smiley face emoji when she wrote, “You really outdid yourself.” It added that the emoji showed that the writer was being sarcastic.

In his statement to the Times, Baldoni’s lawyer called the reporting cherry-picked.

The suit claimed that the backlash against Lively was due to “her own tone-deaf messaging.”

Baldoni pushes back on harassment claims

Blake Lively as Lily Bloom in “It Ends With Us.”

The libel suit accused the Times of “uncritically advancing Lively’s
unsubstantiated claims of sexual harassment against Heath and Baldoni.”

The Times story said, for example, that Heath had shown Lively a video of his naked wife. The Baldoni suit said the video depicted a home birth that was discussed in connection with a scene in the movie.

The libel suit also denied that Baldoni and Heath repeatedly entered Lively’s trailer uninvited while she was undressed and while she was breastfeeding, and that she considered certain sex scenes gratuitous, as the Times story reported, citing the Civil Rights Department complaint.

Baldoni’s suit said Lively breastfed in their presence. It also shared a text message she sent before production suggesting she wasn’t in a hurry to meet with the film’s intimacy coordinator, in which she wrote: “I feel good. I can meet her when we start 🙂 thank you though!”

Baldoni claims he never agreed to a document seeking safeguards

Lively as Lily Bloom and Baldoni as Ryle Kincaid in “It Ends With Us.”

The Times reported that Lively presented a letter to the movie’s producers in November 2023 that sought safeguards on the set before shooting began.

Baldoni’s suit said that the letter wasn’t presented to Wayfarer.

“No such document was ever presented to Baldoni, the Wayfarer team, or, to their knowledge, anyone else — whether during that meeting or at any other time — and therefore, could not have been agreed to,” the suit said.

Baldoni alleges Lively’s PR launched a negative press push against him

Lively and Ryan Reynolds.

Lively’s Civil Rights Department complaint said Baldoni “abruptly pivoted away from the film’s marketing plan” days before its release as part of a “multi-tiered plan” using “social manipulation” to ultimately “destroy” her public reputation.

Baldoni said it was the other way around. He said in the suit — as well as in a statement to the Times — that he and his company hired a PR firm to protect him, with Lively’s PR going on the attack against him. The libel suit claimed that Lively’s PR hire, Leslie Sloane, planted stories critical of Baldoni, including one that said he made Lively uncomfortable on set.

Baldoni accuses Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, of bullying

The libel suit described multiple confrontations between Baldoni and Lively’s husband, Reynolds, the star of “Deadpool.”

The suit said Reynolds “aggressively berated” Baldoni and accused him of “fat shaming” Lively during a meeting at the couple’s penthouse in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York.

Baldoni’s suit said he had asked his trainer about Lively’s weight because he had back injuries and wanted to determine if he could safely lift her as directed in a scene. The trainer later shared Baldoni’s inquiry with Lively, the suit said.

“The confrontation that followed was so aggressive that Baldoni felt compelled to offer repeated apologies, despite his question being entirely reasonable and made in good faith,” Baldoni’s suit said.

In another meeting at the penthouse, the suit alleged, Reynolds “blindsided” Baldoni by berating him over a list of grievances and became “enraged” when Baldoni didn’t apologize. Baldoni later called it a “traumatic” encounter and said others left the meeting in “shock,” his suit said.

Baldoni’s suit further claimed that Reynolds pressured Baldoni’s agency, WME, to drop Baldoni as a client. Both Lively and Reynolds are repped by WME. In a statement to B-17, a WME spokesperson denied that Lively or Reynolds pressured the company to drop Baldoni.

“The wielding of power and influence became undeniable,” the suit said. “Baldoni and Wayfarer grew increasingly fearful of what Lively and Reynolds were capable of, as their actions seemed aimed at destroying Baldoni’s career and personal life.”