WME, Blake Lively‘s agency that dropped Justin Baldoni hours after she accused him of sexual harassment, is going public on the It Ends With Us legal battle, throwing its weight behind the actress ahead of a trial set to start next month.
“In an industry that too often asks women to absorb the damage and stay quiet, Blake Lively chose to stand up for herself, her castmates, and those without the ability to fight back,” the agency said in a statement on Friday. “She has met this moment with courage, moral clarity, and extraordinary determination.”
The announcement of support marks a notable turn in a high-profile clash that’s forced some in Hollywood to take sides. The trial will pit conflicting narratives advanced by Lively and Baldoni against each other, with little wiggle room in between. One tells a story of an A-list actress, aided by some of the biggest celebrities in the world who include husband Ryan Reynolds and friend Taylor Swift, plotting to seize control of a director’s passion project. The other is a tale of sexual harassment and retaliation by a filmmaker backed by a billionaire funding an unscrupulous network of public relations professionals who schemed to destroy her career.
An inflection point came on Thursday when the court dismissed claims for sexual harassment, defamation and conspiracy, among others, significantly narrowing the scope of Lively’s case. Still, the court signaled that public relations maneuvering by Baldoni’s camp in the wake of the allegations could be problematic.
“Certain conduct at least arguably crossed the line,” wrote U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman. He added, “There are limits to the response that the accused can make in response to claims of harassment. There comes a point where the accused stops simply defending him or herself and starts taking action that a reasonable jury could view as retaliation for the fact that the accuser had the temerity to make the accusations.”
In its statement, WME stressed that Lively “helped expose the devastating harm caused by covert digital takedown campaigns designed to intimidate, discredit, and drown out the truth.”
Some of the central claims in Lively’s lawsuit revolve around Baldoni allegedly orchestrating a retaliatory campaign in the press and on social media after she publicized allegations of sexual harassment on the set of the movie.
According to court documents, Melissa Nathan of The Agency Group, Baldoni’s crisis communications specialist, said that she can’t send certain documents “that could get us in a lot of trouble” due to concerns over them ending “up in the wrong hands.” She added, “You know we can bury anyone.” Wayfarer founder Steve Sarowitz similarly stated, “There will be two dead bodies when I’m done.”
Wayfarer, Baldoni’s production company, has maintained that any actions it took were meant to defend itself and that it never ended up taking many of the offensive action the company contemplated.
In his lawsuit, the director alleged that Ryan Reynolds, Lively’s husband, approached his WME agent at the premiere of Deadpool & Wolverine demanded that the agency drop Baldoni. “The wielding of power and influence became undeniable,” the complaint stated. “Baldoni and Wayfarer grew increasingly fearful of what Lively and Reynolds were capable of, as their actions seemed aimed at destroying Baldoni’s career and personal life.”
WME has denied those allegations, saying that neither Lively nor Reynolds was involved in its decision to no longer represent Baldoni.
“In Baldoni’s filing there is a claim that Reynolds pressured Baldoni’s agent at the Deadpool & Wolverine premiere. This is not true,” the agency said at the time. “Baldoni’s former representative was not at the Deadpool & Wolverine premiere nor was there any pressure from Reynolds or Lively at any time to drop Baldoni as a client.”
