{"id":1214238,"date":"2025-02-22T01:10:25","date_gmt":"2025-02-22T01:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/pt\/?p=1214238"},"modified":"2025-02-22T01:10:25","modified_gmt":"2025-02-22T01:10:25","slug":"blake-livelys-rep-asks-to-be-dropped-from-justin-baldonis-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/pt\/blake-livelys-rep-asks-to-be-dropped-from-justin-baldonis-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Blake Lively\u2019s Rep Asks to be Dropped From Justin Baldoni\u2019s Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Originally appeared on E! Online<\/a><\/p>\n

Blake Lively<\/strong><\/a> and Ryan Reynolds<\/strong><\/a>‘ publicist would very much like to be excluded from Justin Baldoni<\/strong><\/a>‘s narrative.<\/p>\n

Weeks after the director filed a defamation complaint against his It Ends With Us<\/em> costar and her husband<\/a> in response to her sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit<\/a> against him and named their publicist Leslie Sloane<\/strong> as a codefendant, the Vision PR owner filed a motion Feb. 20 to dismiss his countersuit.<\/p>\n

In the $400 million lawsuit<\/a>, Baldoni alleges, according to docs obtained by E! News, that Sloane propagated “malicious stories” portraying him “as a sexual predator” and orchestrated a “smear campaign” against him at Lively’s direction.<\/p>\n

However, the publicist’s attorney alleged in a Feb. 20 motion to dismiss the lawsuit, obtained by E! News, that there’s no “basis” for such accusations and that Sloane was “dragged” into the legal battle as a “smoke and mirrors exercise to distract from” Lively’s accusations of sexual harassment and retaliation.<\/p>\n

E! News has reached out to Baldoni and Sloane’s lawyers for comment and has not heard back.<\/p>\n

More from E! Online<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition, Sloane’s attorney argued in the motion that the publicist commenting to a reporter last year that the It Ends With Us<\/em> cast “hates” Baldoni, which he cited as part of his lawsuit, was a statement of “inactionable opinion or, in the alternative, substantially true” and therefore cannot be the basis of a defamation claim.<\/p>\n

Rumors of a feud between Baldoni and Lively<\/a> began last summer when fans noticed that he never appeared with her or with their costars at the premiere of It Ends With Us<\/em> or other promotional events. However, the perceived rift soon shifted into a legal battle.<\/p>\n

In December, Lively, who had previously filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department, sued Baldoni, alleging the Jane the Virgin <\/em>alum exhibited “invasive, unwelcome, unprofessional, and sexually inappropriate behavior” toward her and other cast and crew members and accused him of retaliating against her by working with a crisis PR team to try to destroy her reputation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Two months after the initial filing, in an amended suit, Lively alleged<\/a> she wasn’t alone in her experience and \u201cthat women other than Ms. Lively also were uncomfortable and had complained.”<\/p>\n

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