Justin Baldoni dropped by WME following Blake Lively's sexual harassment complaint
WME dismissed Justin Baldoni after Blake Lively accused him of sexual harassment in a lawsuit filed on Friday, The Hollywood Above has learnt.
Justin Baldoni.
The update comes only hours after Lively announced that she was suing her It Ends With Us co-star and director.
Bryan Bedder/Getty
In the lawsuit, the Simple Favor actress, who is also represented by WME along with her husband, Ryan Reynolds, accused Baldoni and his coworkers at Wayfarer Studios of sexual harassment as well as an alleged coordinated effort to damage her reputation. Bryan Freedman, the Jane the Virgin star's lawyer, responded to the charges, calling them "shameful," "serious," and "categorically false."
According to Lively's petition, things became so bad on production that a conference was held with Lively, Sony Pictures, Baldoni and Jamey Heath from Wayfarer Studios, the film's producers, publicists, and others to discuss some of the "inappropriate conduct" that occurred on set.
The actress and her crew demanded that Baldoni and his staff resume work following the actors' strike. A total of thirty requests were made: "No more showing nude videos of women, including producer's wife, to BL and/or her employees" ; "No more mention of Mr. Baldoni's or Mr. Heath's previous 'pornography addiction' or BL's lack of pornography consumption to BL or to other crew members" ; "No more descriptions of their own genitalia to BL" ; or "No more improvising of kissing."
The The complaint also alleges that the It Ends With Us cast and crew were contractually obligated to promote the film in accordance with the predetermined marketing plan, which stated they would "[f]ocus more on Lily's [Lively's character] strength and resilience as opposed to describing the film as a story about domestic violence." The plan also established that they would "[a]void talking about this film that makes it feel sad or heavy [sic]—it's a story of hope."
However, in the days leading up to the film, Baldoni shifted his emphasis to the film's more serious theme, which dealt with domestic abuse. Per the filing, the actor-director and his team did so to explain why many of the film's cast and crew had unfollowed him on social media and did not interact with him in public. According to the petition, he and his colleagues exploited "survivor content" related to domestic abuse to defend their image.
"What the public also did not know was that this was the beginning of a multi-tiered campaign that Mr. Baldoni and his team defined as 'social manipulation' aimed to 'damage' Ms. Lively's reputation," the lawsuit reads." "That plan was backed by virtually unlimited resources."
In a statement to The New York Times, Lively said, "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."
Bryan Freedman, Baldoni's attorney, issued a long statement disputing the allegations in the complaint. "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, allowing the internet to generate their own views and opinions," he began.
The statement continued, "These claims are completely false, outrageous, and intentionally salacious with the intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media." Wayfarer Studios decided to proactively hire a crisis manager prior to the film's marketing campaign, to work alongside their own representative with Jonesworks, employed by Stephanie Jones, due to Ms. Lively's multiple demands and threats made during production, which included her threatening not to show up to set, threatening not to promote the film, and ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met. It was also discovered that Ms. Lively enlisted her own representative, Leslie Sloan of Vision PR, who also represents Mr. Reynolds, to plant negative and completely fabricated and false stories with the media, even before any marketing for the film had begun, which was another reason Wayfarer Studios decided to hire a crisis professional to begin internal scenario planning in the event that they needed to address.
"The representatives of Wayfarer Studios still did nothing proactive nor retaliated, and only responded to incoming media inquiries to ensure balanced and factual reporting and monitored social activity," according to the statement. "What is pointedly missing from the cherry-picked correspondence is the evidence that there were no proactive measures taken with media or otherwise; just internal scenario planning and private correspondence to strategize which is standard operating procedure with public relations professionals."
