It Ends With Us director Justin Baldoni sues New York Times over Blake Lively story

LOS ANGELES – Justin Baldoni, the American director and co-star of the romance film It Ends With Us (2024), and his publicists sued The New York Times on Dec 31, claiming the news organisation defamed them in a story about allegations by Blake Lively, his co-star, that she had been the victim of a smear campaign.

The lawsuit, which seeks US$250 million (S$340 million) in damages, accuses the Times of uncritically accepting a “self-serving narrative” by the American actress that Baldoni, his production company and their public relations team worked to harm her reputation after she complained about misconduct during the film’s shooting.

It asserts that the Dec 21 article deliberately omitted portions of text exchanges and other information that contradicted the actress’ version of events.

“The article’s central thesis, encapsulated in a defamatory headline designed to immediately mislead the reader, is that plaintiffs orchestrated a retaliatory public relations campaign against Lively for speaking out about sexual harassment – a premise that is categorically false and easily disproven,” the lawsuit said.

The suit was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court by Mr Bryan Freedman, an attorney representing Baldoni, 40, and five others, including Ms Melissa Nathan, a crisis management expert whom Lively accused of helping orchestrate a campaign to manipulate news coverage and social media against her.

In addition to alleging libel by the Times, Mr Freedman asserted a counter-narrative that Lively wrested control of the film from Baldoni and that her publicist later tried to plant stories to damage his reputation.

In a statement, the Times said: “We plan to vigorously defend against the lawsuit.”

It added: “The role of an independent news organisation 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 e-mails that we quote accurately and at length in the article.”

In the article, the Times reported that Lively had filed a legal complaint with the California Civil Rights Department against Baldoni and his business partner, Mr Jamey Heath; their studio, Wayfarer, and one of its co-founders, Mr Steve Sarowitz; Ms Nathan and a communications consultant she brought on, Mr Jed Wallace; and Ms Jennifer Abel, another public relations executive.

The complaint, which claimed sexual harassment and retaliation, included excerpts from thousands of pages of text messages and e-mails obtained through a subpoena, which were reviewed by the Times.

Lively, 37, had complained that the men had repeatedly violated physical boundaries and made sexual and other inappropriate comments to her during the shooting of the film.

Their studio, Wayfarer, agreed to install safeguards on set, her legal complaint said. In a side letter to Lively’s contract, signed by Mr Heath, the studio also agreed not to retaliate against the actress.

She alleged that as the release of the film approached in August 2024, fearful that her allegations would become public and taint them, Baldoni and Mr Heath hired Ms Nathan, a crisis public relations expert, and then Mr Wallace, to smear Lively’s reputation instead.

The actress, in her complaint, cited text messages that show Ms Nathan pushing to prevent print articles about Baldoni’s behaviour from being published and reinforce negative ones about Lively.

Other texts, she said, included references to Mr Wallace, a self-described “hired gun”, leading a digital strategy that included boosting social media posts that could help their cause.

For example, one of Ms Nathan’s employees wrote in a group text message, “We’ve started to see shift on social, due largely to Jed and his team’s efforts to shift the narrative.”

Lively’s California complaint was a precursor to a lawsuit she filed on Dec 31 in federal court in the Southern District of New York.

“Now, the defendants will answer for their conduct in federal court,” her attorneys said in a statement.

Last week, Ms Stephanie Jones, a former publicist for Baldoni and Wayfarer, filed a lawsuit against them and others, alleging breach of contract and other claims.

According to the lawsuit, the text messages and e-mails that Lively obtained through a subpoena came from a company phone used by Ms Abel, one of Ms Jones’ employees, that was returned when she was fired.

Since the Times’ article was published, talent agency William Morris Endeavor dropped Baldoni as a client. Canadian journalist Liz Plank, who has co-hosted the Man Enough podcast with Baldoni and Mr Heath, announced she would no longer be appearing on the show.

American writer Colleen Hoover, author of the book It Ends With Us (2016); American actress Jenny Slate and actor Brandon Sklenar, cast members of the movie; and Ms Alex Saks, one of the producers, are among those who have publicly supported Lively. NYTIMES