Justin Baldoni & His Family Head Out Of L.A. Amid Blake Lively Lawsuit

31 December 2024: Baldoni, Wayfarer and others Sue The New York Times

Baldoni, Wayfarer, Heath, Sarowitz, Nathan, TAG, Abel, RWA Communications, Wallace and Street Relations filed a lawsuit against The New York Times 31 December.

In the lawsuit obtained by E! News, The New York Times is accused of defamation, false light invasion of privacy, tort fraud and breach of implied-in-fact contract for his article about a retaliatory smear campaign the prosecutors allegedly carried out against Lively after she expressed concerns about alleged misconduct on set.

Saying the report was “false” and based on Lively’s CRD complaint, the prosecutors denied the allegations and claimed posts quoted in the article and complaint were taken out of context.

“Despite his claim that they ‘reviewed these along with other documents[,]the Times relied almost entirely on Lively’s unverified and self-confident narrative,” the lawsuit says, “raising it almost verbatim while ignoring an abundance of evidence that contradicts her claims and exposes her true motives.”

They also claim “it was Lively, not Plaintiffs, who engaged in a calculated smear campaign.” She denied this.

The New York Times said it plans to “vigorously defend against the lawsuit.”

“The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts where they lead,” it told E!. “Our story was accurately and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we cite accurately and at length in the article.”