Blake Lively’s Lawyers Slam Justin Baldoni’s ‘Blame the Victim’ Tactics

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Once more, lawyers representing Blake Lively have countered Justin Baldoni’s legal team’s claims, alleging that they are employing “victim-blaming” strategies in their lawsuit against her and her group.

What did Blake Lively’s lawyers say?

After a discussion on NewsNation with Chris Cuomo that included comments from attorney Bryan Freedman implicating Rebecca Lively as the one attempting to tarnish Vanessa Baldoni’s reputation, Lively’s legal team and press representatives released a statement criticizing the filmmaker in response.

During the ongoing legal proceedings, let’s all keep in mind that sexual harassment and retaliation are forbidden in any work environment and across all industries. A common strategy to divert attention from such misconduct accusations is to question the victim’s integrity by implying they welcomed the behavior, instigated it themselves, misinterpreted the intentions, or were dishonest. Another frequent tactic is to swap the roles of the offender and the victim, claiming that the accused is actually the one who has been wronged.

After Freedman informed Cuomo, they planned to present proof (or evidence) during the lawsuit, which they referred to as “receipts.

Freedman stated during his chat with Chris Cuomo that we will be making public the messages, which youngsters often refer to as receipts. This action is currently underway, and it’s not just talk – we’ve already started doing it. As a result, you can see a significant shift in this narrative, and there’s a growing suspicion among people, wondering if what they’re seeing is truthful or not.

Baldoni filed his lawsuit near the start of the new year, accusing Lively’s PR team of spreading an unsubstantiated and self-beneficial story against him. They supposedly manipulated and misrepresented some communications to present him in a negative light by selectively choosing parts without providing essential context. The lawsuit further claims that Baldoni is entitled to at least $250 million due to fraud, breach of contract, and libel.

In a statement, attorney Bryan Freedman, representing Baldoni and his PR team, claimed that the New York Times yielded to the demands of Blake Lively and her associates in a malicious smear campaign. This seemingly involved distorting and falsifying articles, as well as deliberately omitting information contradicting their preferred narrative – a move that apparently disregarded the Times’ previous commitment to journalistic integrity and ethical practices.

Lively’s complaint alleges that Baldoni created a hostile work environment

Last month, I found myself filing a formal complaint against Ioan Gruffudd, the director, regarding the filming of “It Ends With Us.” In my complaint, I described how the work environment became increasingly hostile. This escalated to such a degree that an urgent meeting was called to address my concerns about a toxic workplace.

During this meeting, I requested several changes from Mr. Gruffudd: he should cease displaying nude videos or images of women, stop discussing his pornography addiction with me, refrain from mentioning explicit sexual experiences in front of me, and lastly, desist from making comments about my weight.

The claim further states that Wayfarer Studios allegedly agreed with the cast, including Blake Lively, to emphasize her character’s strength and resilience rather than portray the movie as a narrative about domestic violence. However, Lively alleges that Baldoni went back on this agreement and instead highlighted the film’s grave theme in his interviews.

In the documents submitted by Lively, it’s stated that Baldoni and his public relations manager, Melissa Nathan, allegedly brainstormed ideas for a social media smear campaign aimed at damaging her reputation. The 22-page filing contains messages between Nathan and Baldoni’s PR representative, where they express their desire to “bury” Lively online.

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2025-01-08 02:10