Justin Baldoni is suing The New York Times over its report on Blake Lively’s allegations of sexual harassment against him. The lawsuit was filed on December 31, 2024, in the Los Angeles Superior Court.
Baldoni’s Lawsuit: Allegations, Affected Parties, and Damage Claims
The lawsuit alleges that “the Times relied almost 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.”
Ultimately, the lawsuit claims that the plaintiffs—Baldoni, his publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, and It Ends With Us producers Jamey Heath and Steve Sarowitz—suffered damages that amounted to at least $250 million.
A Response From The New York Times
A Times spokesperson reportedly told Business Insider that the paper would “vigorously defend against the lawsuit” and stood by its story. The spokesperson continued, “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.”
A Response From Lively’s Legal Team
Lively’s lawyers also provided a statement to Business Insider, explaining, “Nothing in this lawsuit changes anything about the claims advanced in Ms. Lively’s California Civil Rights Department Complaint, nor her federal complaint, filed earlier today.”
Lively’s Lawsuit: Accusations of Retaliation
This federal suit filed by Lively accused Baldoni of acting in retaliation for her sexual harassment claims and named Baldoni alongside members of his PR team. The suit itself was based on the California civil rights complaint, accusing Baldoni and others of launching a retaliatory campaign against her for speaking up against sexual misconduct.
An Argument Against the Omission of Portions of Text Conversation
While they did not discuss the federal suit directly, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, similarly stated that Lively and her legal team were carrying out a “vicious smear campaign” against his clients. Baldoni’s lawyers argue in his lawsuit that the Times’ story was based on “a premise that is categorically false and easily disproved.”
The lawsuit said, “If the Times truly reviewed the thousands of private communications it claimed to have obtained, its reporters would have seen incontrovertible evidence that it was Lively, not Plaintiffs, who engaged in a calculated smear campaign.”
The lawsuit broadly considers the issue of the Times’ report choosing to omit portions of a text conversation, which could have provided further insight into the nature of a given conversation. This context could refute Lively’s claim that Baldoni orchestrated a smear campaign against her reputation.
Claims From Lively in The New York Times Article
The story that sparked this issue, the Times’ “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine,” was published on December 21, 2024. The article featured messages exchanged between Baldoni and his PR team, which Baldoni’s lawsuit aims to provide context for to refute the article’s conclusion.
The Times’ article features Lively’s claim that Baldoni invaded her privacy by “entering her makeup trailer uninvited while she was undressed, including when she was breastfeeding her infant child.”
Baldoni’s legal team provided the following messages in his lawsuit, first from Lively to him, which read, “I’m just pumping in my trailer if you wanna work out our lines,” and a response from Baldoni, which said, “Copy. Eating with crew and will head that way.”
The Coming Legal Conflict
Similar refutations appear core to Baldoni’s lawsuit, though whether they will hold out during the legal conflict remains to be seen. The Times’ inciting article, Baldoni’s subsequent lawsuit, and Lively’s responsive lawsuit are all available online. Lively’s lawyers encourage readers to look at their lawsuit, though Baldoni’s legal team has not responded similarly.
