Justin Baldoni Sues New York Times for $250 Million in Response to Blake Lively Report

Justin Baldoni has accused The New York Times of skewing their coverage in favor of Blake Lively in her sexual harassment lawsuit against him. The publication broke the news of the lawsuit filed in mid-December in which The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants star accused her It Ends With Us director and co-star of creating an uncomfortable work environment in which sexual harassment plagued the set and orchestrated a smear campaign against her in an effort to deflect from her story if she came forward. Baldoni has denied the allegations, but was dropped by his reps at WME on the same day the lawsuit was made public. 

Deadline reports Baldoni and his publicist have sued The New York Times for $250 million. The 87 page lawsuit notes the publication “cherry-picked and altered communications stripped of necessary context and deliberately spliced to mislead.”

The suit mentions several of Lively’s claims, which Baldoni offers a different account of, including an all-hands meeting with the cast, executives, and film studio (SONY) which he had in order to put guidelines in place to combat some of Baldoni’s behavior. In his suit, Baldoni names others in the suit who he says claims the meeting was bogus, with one person present allegedly claiming “in his 40-year career he had never seen anyone speak to someone like that in a meeting. Also, “the Sony representative mentioned that she would often think of that meeting and her one regret is that she didn’t stop Reynolds’ berating of Baldoni.”

Several of Lively’s peers, including co-stars and other Hollywood heavyweights, have come forward in support of Lively. Baldoni’s podcast co-host, Liz Plank, quit in the aftermath of the Lively’s lawsuit, which many took as her standing in solidarity with her. 

At the time of her quitting, she wrote on Instagram in part: “As this chapter closes for me, I remain committed to the values we’ve built together,” Plank continued. “Thank you for being here, for trusting me, and for being by my side for the last four years. We all deserve better, and I know that together, we can create it. I will have more to share soon as I continue to process everything that has happened.In the meantime, I will continue to support everyone who calls out injustice and holds the people standing in their way accountable.”