Actor and director Justin Baldoni filed a US$250 million lawsuit against The New York Times last Tuesday (31) for a report on an alleged campaign to defame the actress Blake Lively after she accused him of sexual harassment.
The information comes from Variety magazine, which published the full process. The New York Times has not commented on the accusation.
The director of “É Assim que Acaba” (2024) is among a group of ten people who are suing the newspaper for defamation and invasion of privacy for the text published on December 21st entitled “‘We can bury anyone’: inside the machine Hollywood slander.”
The parties, which also include advisors Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel and producers Jamey Heath and Steve Sarowitz, claim the report was based on communications “selected and altered, devoid of necessary context and deliberately edited to mislead.”
One of the discrepancies highlighted in the lawsuit is an exchange of messages between Lively and Baldoni on June 2, 2023. The actress sent a message to the director blaming her assistant for not receiving an updated batch of script pages.
The actress signed the message with an “X” — a symbol used in English to represent a kiss. Lively continued, “I’m just breastfeeding in my trailer if you want to rehearse our lines.” Baldoni replied: “Understood. [Estou] Eating with the team and going there.”
This interaction would have been portrayed in the text of The New York Times in a more heavy manner, according to the indictment. The newspaper wrote: “[Baldoni] repeatedly entered her makeup trailer uninvited while she was undressed, including while she was breastfeeding.”
The 87-page complaint, which also accuses The New York Times of fraud and breach of implied contract, attempts to refute the report that led agency WME to drop Baldoni as a client hours after publication.
According to the lawsuit, Lively embarked on a “strategic and manipulative” smear campaign and used false “allegations of sexual harassment to assert unilateral control over all aspects of the production.”
Also according to the complaint, Lively’s husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, allegedly berated Baldoni aggressively during a meeting at their New York apartment, “accusing him of ‘humiliating’ his wife for her weight.”
The lawsuit alleges that the actor also pressured a Baldoni agent to fire the director during the premiere of “Deadpool and Wolverine” in July, before Baldoni hired a crisis consultant.
Representatives for The New York Times did not respond to Variety’s immediate request for comment.
Source: Folha
I am Frederick Tuttle, who works in 247 News Agency as an author and mostly cover entertainment news. I have worked in this industry for 10 years and have gained a lot of experience. I am a very hard worker and always strive to get the best out of my work. I am also very passionate about my work and always try to keep up with the latest news and trends.
