[Justin Baldoni is firing back after being accused of sexual harassment by his co-star Blake Lively, filing a libel suit against The New York Times, claiming that the newspaper published an article “rife with inaccuracies, misrepresentations, and omissions” that relied on Lively’s “self-serving narrative”.
Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department in December, accusing Baldoni and his team of sexual harassment and retaliation, and alleging that after she raised concerns of sexual harassment on the set of their film “It Ends With Us”, they retaliated against her, leaking unflattering press to try to ruin her professional reputation.
The New York Times published an article based on Lively’s complaint, which Baldoni claims was “reliable entirely on Lively’s unverified and self-serving narrative, lifting it nearly verbatim while disregarding an abundance of evidence that contradicted her claims and exposed her true motives”.
Baldoni is also alleging that Lively created false sexual harassment accusations so she could take control of the film, then set out on a campaign to “reshape her public persona” with “salacious, headline-grabbing allegations” at his expense.
Baldoni’s lawsuit states that Lively’s “cynical abuse of sexual harassment allegations to assert unilateral control over every aspect of the production was both strategic and manipulative”. Baldoni’s team claims that Lively’s allegations are part of a “social manipulation campaign” to hurt her reputation in the media.
The Times has vowed to “vigorously defend against the lawsuit” and the newspaper’s spokesperson said that “the role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts where they lead”.
Attorneys for Lively told CNN that “nothing in this lawsuit changes anything” and that they “look forward to addressing each and every one of Wayfarer’s allegations in court”.
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