Topics: Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, Celebrity, News
Justin Baldoni has been let go by his talent agency in light of Black Lively’s lawsuit against the actor.
The pair starred alongside one another in the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's book of the same name It Ends With Us.
For the project, Baldoni was also the director.
After the film’s release in August, rumors began to circulate which detailed the alleged 'friction' between Lively and Baldoni.
Advert
Amongst the storm between the two, fans chose sides, and Lively was subsequently slammed over her responses in interviews during the press tour for the film.
It all came to a head when Lively sued her co-star, in a filing first seen by TMZ and shared by the New York Times.
Baldoni has now been dropped by WME, his talent agency which also represents Lively, Deadline reports.
According to Deadline, the agency took action on Saturday December 21 due in part to the complaint Lively filed on Friday.
The lawsuit claims that Baldoni sexually harassed Lively, and that she had experienced an unsavory work atmosphere which led her to call a meeting to list demands.
Allegedly, she requested going forward for there to be 'no more adding of sex scenes, oral sex or on camera climaxing by BL [Blake Lively] outside the scope of the script BL approved when signing onto the project'.
She also asked for no conversations of a sexual nature to happen around her, no mentions of cast and crew's genitalia, no discussion about her weight, no mention of Baldoni's alleged previous 'pornography addiction' and no nude videos or images of women being shown to her.
But afterwards, she claimed that Wayfarer Studios and Baldoni allegedly tried to 'destroy' her reputation through 'social manipulation' which has caused her 'severe emotional distress'.
Lively told The New York Times in a statement: "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."
Attorney for Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios, Bryan Freedman, told The Hollywood Reporter the accusations are 'categorically false'.
Freedman called it 'shameful' that Lively and her representatives would 'make such serious' accusations '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'.
He continued: "Interviews and press activities that were observed publicly, in real time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions.”
The statement goes on to claim that the suit is 'completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media'.
Freedman alleges that the actress threatened 'to not show up on set [and] threatened to not promote the film' unless her 'demands were met' - which led to Wayfarer Studios making the call 'to proactively hire a crisis manager prior to the marketing campaign of the film, to work alongside their own representative with Jonesworks employed by Stephanie Jones' and that these demands 'ultimately lead to [the film's] demise during release'.
The statement added: "It was also discovered that Ms. Lively enlisted her own representative, Leslie Sloan with Vision PR, who also represents Mr. Reynolds, to plant negative and completely fabricated and false stories with media, even prior to any marketing had commenced for the film, which was another reason why Wayfarer Studios made the decision to hire a crisis professional to commence internal scenario planning in the case 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.
"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."
UNILAD has contacted representatives for Justin Baldoni for a comment.
