Justin Baldoni’s attorney refutes Blake Lively’s allegations about a smear campaign
Bryan Freedman has reportedly rejected claims that Baldoni’s team aimed to harm Blake Lively’s reputation and criticized her for sharing “private correspondence.”
Shortly after Blake Lively accused her “It Ends With Us” co-star and director Justin Baldoni, along with his production team, of sexual harassment and retaliation, his representatives have responded strongly against her assertions made in an extensive 80-page complaint.
Entertainment lawyer Bryan Freedman, representing Baldoni, his publicist Jennifer Abel, and crisis communications manager Melissa Nathan from The Agency Group PR, defended his clients in a statement distributed to several media outlets including Rolling Stone, The Hollywood Reporter, and Us Weekly.
“TAG PR functioned just like any other crisis management firm would when approached by a client facing threats from two highly influential individuals with vast resources,” Freedman’s statement explained. “The proactive scenario plans drafted by TAG PR proved unnecessary, as the public naturally reacted negatively to Lively’s behaviors, interviews, and marketing throughout the promotional campaign, which were highlighted by the media.”
The document included in Lively’s complaint, labeled “confidential,” states that its purpose is to “safeguard the reputation” of Baldoni, producer Jamey Heath, and production company Wayfarer Studios “in the lead-up, during, and after the release of ‘It Ends With Us.'”
Allegedly created by TAG PR, Nathan’s agency, the document prepares “various potential scenarios” “in the event (Lively) and her team make her complaints public.” For instance, if Lively’s team disseminates negative stories about Baldoni and his film studio, one proposed strategy was to “brief individuals with a more detailed account of the facts,” including behind-the-scenes conversations with supportive media outlets.
On August 1, Abel reportedly informed producer Heath: “Confidentially, I’m having dinner with a long-time friend who writes for People Magazine, Fox News, In Touch, and Us Weekly. She’s fully briefed on the situation and ready to share this story about Blake misusing feminism at any of her outlets once we give her the signal. She dislikes Blake, has heard this story previously, and will do anything to assist us.”
On August 16, almost two weeks after allegedly telling Abel about speaking with an editor at the Daily Mail, Nathan supposedly sent a link to a Daily Mail article titled “Is Blake Lively set to be CANCELLED? Series of ‘hard to watch’ videos after ‘tone deaf’ Q&A to promote It Ends With Us could damage the 36-year-old star’s pristine Hollywood image permanently.”
According to Lively’s submission, Abel responded: “You really excelled with this article.” Nathan supposedly replied, “That’s exactly why you engaged me, right? I’m the best.”
Baldoni’s lawyer claims publicists’ messages were ‘leaked’
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Freedman also questioned the source and context of the private texts and emails between Baldoni and his team that were cited in Lively’s document and published in The New York Times’ report on the “Gossip Girl” star’s pursuit of legal actions.
“It’s ironic that The New York Times, in their effort to ‘expose’ a covert PR strategy, inadvertently supported Lively’s own questionable PR methods by releasing leaked personal text messages that lack essential context – the very same tactics she accuses the firm of employing,” Freedman reportedly stated to the outlets.
The “leaked personal text exchanges,” noted by the Times, were obtained through a subpoena, a legal order permitting access to someone’s records.
YSL News has attempted to contact Freedman and representatives for Lively for further comment.
Justin Baldoni’s attorney asserts crisis PR was hired in response to Blake Lively promoting ‘false’ narratives
In a statement to the Times on Saturday, Freedman firmly denied the claims outlined in Lively’s complaint, asserting that these allegations represented “yet another desperate effort to ‘repair’ her tarnished image that arose from her own statements and actions during the promotional phase of the film.”
He characterized Baldoni and his studio’s engagement of a crisis manager as a defensive measure against “false and entirely fabricated narratives” that they claim Lively’s team disseminated prior to the film’s marketing.
“What is glaringly absent in the selectively chosen correspondence is any proof of proactive outreach to the media or elsewhere; only internal planning and private discussions, which is standard practice for PR professionals,” Freedman noted.
Baldoni’s publicist responded to posts amid allegations
Prior to Freedman making his announcement, reports from THR and Rolling Stone indicated that Abel, the publicist for Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios, reacted to Lively’s claims in a series of Facebook posts that have now been removed.
Abel apparently stated, “There was never any effort to stir up negative press or create a combat plan, though we were equipped for that since it’s our role to handle any situation,” continuing to say, “We didn’t need to take action because the internet was doing it for us.”
She supposedly mentioned that they found joy in the fact that fans were recognizing their clients’ efforts without needing to do much beyond focusing on positive interviews.
Abel acknowledged that the texts revealed a sort of immature satisfaction regarding social media reactions to Lively, whom she referred to as “the person whose team was making things very difficult for us.”
In her messages, she reportedly said that early in the “It Ends With Us” marketing efforts, she discovered that the “opposing team” had been spreading damaging stories about Baldoni in case he “failed to meet the campaign’s demands.”
YSL News has contacted Abel for further comments.
What did Blake Lively accuse Justin Baldoni of?
In her formal complaint submitted to the California Civil Rights Department, which marks the starting point for a potential civil lawsuit against the involved parties, Lively claims she felt compelled to tackle concerns regarding Baldoni and Mr. Heath’s misconduct months before shooting started. Consequently, her legal team asserts, a January 4 meeting was called to address the toxic work environment threatening the film’s production.
According to her complaint, Lively decided to have her husband, Ryan Reynolds of “Deadpool” fame, participate as a representative in this meeting.
Everyone present at the meeting reportedly consented to the terms Lively set for continuing filming, outlined in a detailed list of 30 bullet points. Notable conditions for Lively’s safety during production included having “an intimacy coordinator present at all times when Lively is filming with Mr. Baldoni” and ensuring “no one attempts to enter or interrupt Lively’s trailer while she is undressed for any purpose.”
Lively’s complaint stated that Nathan and TAG PR orchestrated negative media coverage about her and utilized a strategy called “astroturfing” to create the illusion that regular social media users were posting negative comments about the actress.
In what are alleged email exchanges, Abel stated Baldoni “wants to feel like she can be buried,” to which Nathan responded: “You know we could bury anyone. But I can’t say that to him.” These purported conversations indicated their contention and surveillance of public sentiment regarding Baldoni and Lively, along with Nathan’s attempts to sway media narratives positively for Baldoni.
At the conclusion of her complaint, Lively’s lawyers expressed, “Through this Complaint, Ms. Lively aims to clarify the situation, hold the Wayfarer Parties and Associates responsible, and highlight this new form of retaliation to ensure it isn’t used against anyone else who stands up against sexual harassment.”
