Justin Baldoni filed a $250 million libel lawsuit against The New York Times after the news outlet published a story about Blake Lively’s sexual harassment allegations.
After being accused by his former It Ends With Us co-star Blake of sexual harassment on set, Justin is now taking legal action against The New York Times for publishing an article that highlighted the alleged mistreatment. According to reports by CNN, the 40-year-old actor claims that the newspaper failed its “journalistic integrity” by not properly vetting the actresses’ allegations.
In the newly-filed suit, Baldoni claimed that The New York 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.”
In response, Danielle Rhoades Ha, spokesperson for The Times, told CNN the publication plans to “vigorously defend against the lawsuit.” She told the news outlet: “The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts where they lead.” Baldoni is one of 10 plaintiffs, including publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, who are suing the newspaper for libel and false light invasion of privacy over the Dec. 21 article titled “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.”
Rhoades 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. 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.”
In a statement to The Mirror US Lively’s lawyers also responded to the new lawsuit and said: “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. This lawsuit is based on the obviously false premise that Ms. Lively’s administrative complaint against Wayfarer and others was a ruse based on a choice ‘not to file a lawsuit against Baldoni, Wayfarer,’ and that ‘litigation was never her ultimate goal.’”
“As demonstrated by the federal complaint filed by Ms. Lively earlier today, that frame of reference for the Wayfarer lawsuit is false. While we will not litigate this matter in the press, we do encourage people to read Ms. Lively’s complaint in its entirety. We look forward to addressing each and every one of Wayfarer’s allegations in court.”
