Justin Baldoni’s lawyer has now been warned against making ‘irrelevant’ claims to ‘promote public scandal.’\u00a0<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-name” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Black Han Sans|||on|||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ header_4_font=”|||on|||||” header_4_text_align=”center” text_orientation=”center” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]
Words by Georgia Aspinall<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1710522882.jpg” alt=”Taylor Swift Blake Lively” title_text=”Celebrity Sightings In New York City – September 30, 2023″ force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||1px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”] The lawsuits between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are getting uglier and uglier by the day. This week, Lively\u2019s legal team were forced to issue a statement denying that the actor threatened her friend, Taylor Swift, in order to get a message of public support from the singer. The allegation was made by Baldoni\u2019s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, who has now seen the claim struck from the court docket by presiding Judge Lewis Liman, warning him against using the case to \u2018promote public scandal.\u2019<\/p>\n Swift was dragged into the legal battle months ago when she was named in Baldoni\u2019s lawsuit as someone who Lively used to allegedly intimidate him into accepting changes, she\u2019d made to the script for It Ends With Us. Baldoni alleges that Lively referred to Swift, and her husband Ryan Reynolds, as \u2018dragons\u2019 who protect her and invited them to a meeting at her house about the script. It was also claimed in reports that Swift was involved in the casting of Isabela Ferrer in the film, who stars as a younger version of Lively\u2019s character, Lily Bloom.<\/p>\n Last week, Swift was subpoenaed by Baldoni\u2019s team as a witness to the legal battle. In response, she issued a scathing statement, saying \u2018Taylor Swift never set foot on the set of this movie, she was not involved in any casting or creative decisions, she did not score the film, she did not even see It Ends With Us until weeks after its public release, and was travelling around the globe during 2023 and 2024 headlining the biggest tour in history.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1853755677.jpg” alt=”Taylor Swift Blake Lively” title_text=”Celebrity Sightings In New York City – December 13, 2023″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_code _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_code][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”] \u2018Given that her involvement was licensing a song for the film, which 19 other artists also did, this subpoena is designed to use Taylor Swift\u2019s name to draw public interest by creating tabloid clickbait instead of focusing on the facts of the case.\u2019<\/p>\n Lively seconded the sentiment in her own statement, with her legal team saying Baldoni\u2019s team \u2018continue to turn a case of sexual harassment and retaliation into entertainment for the tabloids.\u2019 They attempted to quash Swift\u2019s subpoena, saying Baldoni\u2019s team are seeking \u2018irrelevant information\u2019.<\/p>\n This week, Baldoni\u2019s lawyer wrote a letter to the court saying that Swift is \u2018highly likely to have reliable information\u2019 and accused Lively of \u2018witness tampering and evidence spoliation\u2019. Freedman claims that Lively used \u2018extortionate threats\u2019 to pressure Swift into deleting their text messages, and that Michael Gottlieb, Lively\u2019s lawyer, contacted one of Swift\u2019s lawyers and \u2018demanded\u2019 she make a public statement of support.<\/p>\n According to Freedman, Gottlieb said that if Swift didn\u2019t comply, \u2018private text messages of a personal nature in Ms. Lively\u2019s possession would be released.\u2019 Lively\u2019s lawyers have since denied that she used any threats or intimidation to gain public support from Swift, nor did she engage in any witness tampering or evidence spoliation.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_code _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_code][et_pb_text module_class=”custom-quote” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_font=”Libre Bodoni|||on|||||” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”#333333″ header_2_font_size=”40px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” global_colors_info=”{}”] Esra Hudson, Lively\u2019s lawyer, condemned Freedman in his own letter to the court this week, saying his \u2018anonymously sourced, baseless allegations recklessly levelled without any supporting evidence\u2026 are unequivocally and demonstrably false.\u2019 Again, they say, Baldoni\u2019s team are attempting to \u2018launder scandalous and defamatory allegations about Ms. Lively and opposing counsel into the press\u2019 that have nothing to do with the lawsuit, they claim.<\/p>\n Hudson pointed out that \u2018within minutes\u2019 of Freedman\u2019s letter appearing on the court docket, publications started appearing online. TikTok was also awash with commentary about Freedman\u2019s letter, many users presenting the information \u2018as fact\u2019.<\/p>\n \u2018This is a very serious matter, not Barnum & Bailey\u2019s Circus,\u2019 Lively\u2019s spokesperson said. \u2018The defendants continue to publicly intimidate, bully, shame and attack women\u2019s rights and reputations.\u2019<\/p>\n Freedman continues to insist that he is receiving information from a source \u2018very closely linked\u2019 to Swift, and that they claim Lively said she would release \u201910 years\u2019 of text messages if Swift didn\u2019t post a public statement in support of her after last year\u2019s Super Bowl, when Lively did not attend to much tabloid speculation.<\/p>\n Now, the presiding Judge Lewis Liman has sided with Lively\u2019s legal team, saying Freedman\u2019s letters were \u2018improper\u2019, \u2018irrelevant\u2019 and designed to \u2018promote public scandal\u2019.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”] \u2018It took the court less than 24 hours to see through Mr. Freedman\u2019s irrelevant, improper and inflammatory accusations, strike them, remove them from the court and warn Mr. Freedman that further misconduct may be met with sanctions,\u2019 a spokesperson for Lively said. <\/p>\n So, what next for the wild ordeal that is this court case? We have another year of it to come \u2013 with a trial date set for May 2026.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color=”#111111″ divider_position=”center” divider_weight=”2px” module_class=”custom-divider” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”0px||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-texts” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|||on|||||” text_orientation=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”] Photo: <\/b>Getty<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Justin Baldoni’s lawyer has now been warned against making ‘irrelevant’ claims to ‘promote public scandal’.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":9784,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"guestgrazia","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9779"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9802,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9779\/revisions\/9802"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}‘These baseless allegations are unequivocally false.’<\/span><\/h2>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]