New York Times Denies Justin Baldoni’s Defamation Lawsuit Claims
The New York Times has refuted Justin Baldoni’s recent legal allegations regarding its supposed involvement in Blake Lively’s lawsuit. In a statement to Us Weekly on Sunday, February 2, a spokesperson for the newspaper dismissed Baldoni’s claims as inaccurate and based on erroneous information from amateur internet investigators.
According to the statement, Baldoni’s lawyers falsely asserted that The Times had early access to Lively’s state civil rights complaint. The spokesperson clarified that the publication’s posting of a version of the complaint with a date of ‘December 10′ was generated by Google software and not indicative of when The Times actually received and published the document.
Baldoni, 40, filed a defamation lawsuit against The Times in January, alleging that the outlet helped propagate Lively’s allegations against him before she formally filed court documents. His attorneys cited findings from The Times’ HTML source code that alluded to a ‘message-embed-generator’ with a date of ‘2024-10-31.’
The December 2024 article by The Times reported Lively, 37, suing Baldoni for alleged sexual harassment, creating a hostile work environment, and attempting to tarnish her reputation while filming ‘It Ends With Us.’ Lively and Baldoni co-starred as a troubled couple in the film, which he also directed.
Denying Lively’s accusations, Baldoni initiated two defamation lawsuits. The first lawsuit sought $250 million from The Times for publishing Lively’s account, while the subsequent $400 million suit targeted Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, alleging that Lively aimed to vilify Baldoni to distract from her purported mishandling of film promotion.
In response, Lively refuted the claims and sought a court-imposed gag order to prevent Baldoni and his attorney, Bryan Freedman, from releasing alleged texts and videos from the film production. Freedman criticized Lively’s gag order plea, asserting that it aimed to suppress the truth and protect her Hollywood image built on fear and manipulation.
The legal battle between Baldoni, Lively, and The New York Times continues to unfold, shedding light on the complex dynamics at play in the entertainment industry. As the lawsuits progress, the public awaits further developments in this high-profile case.