TheIt Ends With Usdrama continues to fuel, as Justin Baldoni suesTheNew York Timesafter their recent report about Blake Lively. Lively and Baldoni worked together on the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel, which came out last year. Ahead of the release, there was speculation that production was not going smoothly betweentheIt Ends With Usstars. Recently, a report came forward thatLively was suing the actor-director for sexual harassmentand a smear campaign, withThe New York Timespublishing an article detailing her complaints, which included pictures of text messages between Baldoni and his PR team.
PerVariety,Baldoni is now moving to sueThe New York Timesfor libel. He and nine other plaintiffs, including his publicists, are suing for $250 million for libel and false light invasion of privacy over the newspaper’s article “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine," which was published on December 21. The complaint alleges that theTimespicked and chose events irresponsibly, leading to a misunderstanding of what really occurred. The publication responded, in a statement that can be found below:
“The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts where they lead. Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article. To date, Wayfarer Studios, Mr. Baldoni, the other subjects of the article and their representatives have not pointed to a single error. We published their full statement in response to the allegations in the article as well. We plan to vigorously defend against the lawsuit.”
What This Means For The Blake Lively Lawsuit
The Complaint Points Out Discrepancies
In their complaint,Baldoni and the other plaintiffs point out numerous discrepanciesbetween theNew York Timesstory and what they say really happened. For example, one part of the article says “[Baldoni] repeatedly entered her makeup trailer uninvited while she was undressed, including when she was breastfeeding.” In reality, this new lawsuit claims, Lively had sent Baldoni a text that said “I’m just pumping in my trailer if you wanna work out our lines,” and Baldoni responded and reacted accordingly, rather than invading any of her privacy.
It Ends With Us Cast Drama Explained: What’s Going On With Blake Lively’s New Movie?
An adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel, the Blake Lively-led It Ends with Us has been plagued by rumors of behind-the-scenes cast drama.
The case used this and more as evidence that “The Times story relied almost entirely on Lively’s unverified and self-serving narrative,” and dismissed other proof. They also noted that “Notably, Lively chose not to file a lawsuit against Baldoni, Wayfarer, or any of the Plaintiffs — a choice that spared her from the scrutiny of the discovery process, including answering questions under oath and producing her communications. This decision was no accident.” As Lively’s team andThe New York Timescontinue to respond over the coming days, it will be interesting to see how things develop.
Our Take On The Competing It Ends With Us Lawsuit Cases
The Facts Are Still Murky
TheIt Ends With Uslawsuits have now become a legal case of he said/she said. It sounds like Baldoni’s team has a point about some of the discrepancies, so Lively and her legal team will likely have to scrounge up more evidence to make their case.TheNew York Timesjournalist Megan Twohey, who co-wrote the piece, has a history of writing important works in the #MeToo movement, so the results of this lawsuit could be critical to her future credibility. Nevertheless,theIt Ends With Usfallouthas just continued to get messier.
It Ends With Us
Cast
Based on Colleen Hoover’s 2016 novel, It Ends With Us is a drama-romance film directed by Justin Baldoni. The film follows a recent college graduate named Lily, who meets a man named Ryle and falls in love with him. However, a traumatic incident compounded with her former high-school sweetheart re-entering her life complicates her plans.
