Justin Baldoni sues ‘The New York Times’ over Blake Lively story

Justin Baldoni is suing The New York Times for $250 million over its bombshell story about an alleged smear campaign against actress Blake Lively when they worked together on the movie It Ends With Us.

The 87-page lawsuit, which accuses the Times of defamation, was filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, according to the document obtained by Entertainment Weekly. The Dec. 21 story titled “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine” reported that public relations professionals deliberately set out to destroy the actress’ reputation after she “complained that the men had repeatedly violated physical boundaries and made sexual and other inappropriate comments to her.”

Baldoni, the film’s director and leading man, is one of 10 plaintiffs taking the legal action. Among the others are producers Jamey Heath and Steve Sarowitz, as well as publicists Jennifer Abel and Melissa Nathan, whose correspondence published in the Times rocked Hollywood.

The lawsuit states that the newspaper’s “reliance on ‘cherry-picked’ and altered communications stripped of necessary context and deliberately spliced to mislead.”

The lawsuit also states that the news outlet “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. But the Times did not care. Given the breadth of the Article and the coordinated ‘drop,’ it is readily apparent that the Times had been quietly working in concert with Lively’s team for weeks or months.”

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“The New York Times cowered to the wants and whims of two powerful ‘untouchable’ Hollywood elites, disregarding journalistic practices and ethics once befitting of the revered publication by using doctored and manipulated texts and intentionally omitting texts which dispute their chosen PR narrative,” attorney Bryan Freedman, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs, said in a statement obtained by EW.

“We will continue this campaign of authenticity by also suing those individuals who have abused their power to try and destroy the lives of my clients,” Freedman continued.

The New York Times plans to “vigorously defend against the lawsuit,” according to a spokesperson.

“The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts where they lead,” Danielle Rhoades Ha, New York Times senior vice president, External Communications, said in a statement to EW. “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.”

EW has reached out to Lively’s representatives for comment.

Baldoni’s filing follows Lively’s complaint against him, Heath, and others that the actress filed with the California State Civil Rights Department, which the Times also published. In it, the actress accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and orchestrating an online smear campaign against her. She also said that the filmmakers had failed to investigate her complaints.

“I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted,” Lively told the Times.

At the time, Freedman said in part, “It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and its representatives as yet another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation, which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film — interviews and press activities that were observed publicly, in real time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions. These claims are completely false, outrageous, and intentionally salacious, with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.”

It Ends With Us, in which Lively plays the victim of an abusive husband, portrayed by Baldoni, has earned more than $350 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.