Blake Lively is getting candid about Justin Baldoni filing a $400 million lawsuit against her.
In fact, one could argue that he has already made his point.
According to Lively, Baldoni’s initial smear campaign was in retaliation for her speaking out about his abuse on set.
Now, his massive lawsuit appears to be doing the same thing. Is he defending himself or silencing his accuser?
Blake Lively is hinting that Justin Baldoni fits a pattern
Like Joe Jonas before him, Justin Baldoni is learning that smear campaigns can backfire.
Her $400 million lawsuit against him, Ryan Reynolds, and Leslie Sloane (Blake’s publicist) doesn’t seem to be helping her either.
“This is an age-old story,” Blake Lively said in a statement on Thursday, Jan. 16.
Lively’s statement continued, “A woman speaks out with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation.”
“And,” she described, “the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim.”
Lively concluded: “This is what the experts call Darvo. refuse. attack. Turn the victim into the criminal.”
Additionally, Blake Lively’s legal team is calling Justin Baldoni
tmz The report states that Lively’s team says both Baldoni and her production company are apparently “desperate to eliminate the public’s ability to understand that what they are doing is retaliation against sexual harassment allegations.” Is.”
The statement continued: “They are trying to shift the narrative to Ms. Lively by falsely claiming that she seized creative control and alienated the artists from Mr. Baldoni.”
Remember, Baldoni has alleged that Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, assaulted her again. And Lively’s plans, rather than Baldoni’s behavior, are the reason why the other members it ends with us The artistes seem to be distancing themselves from the director.
Blake Lively’s legal team insisted, “The evidence will show that the cast and others had their own negative experiences with Mr. Baldoni and Wayfarer.”
“The evidence will also show that Sony asked Ms. Lively to oversee Sony’s cut of the film,” the statement said, “which they selected for distribution and which was a resounding success.”
Presumably, there are records of Sony assigning the job to Blake Lively. Just as there are presumably records or other evidence of the meeting in which Baldoni allegedly agreed to stop his sexual misconduct on set.
Then what is the lawsuit about?
Justin Baldoni is suing Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and Leslie Sloane for defamation, along with a series of other allegations.
He’s essentially saying that Lively’s allegations are causing huge damage to his reputation. Which, to be fair, is arguably true.
But the crux of the issue is whether his allegations are true. And, as Lively notes, filing a massive defamation suit to silence an accuser is a familiar tactic. Hopefully, the evidence will allow both the courts and public opinion to side with the truth. But, historically, that’s not how things have always worked.