Blake Lively is publicly supporting The New York Times as the publication pushes to be removed from Justin Baldoni’s high-profile $250 million defamation lawsuit. 

The lawsuit stems from allegations of misconduct that Lively made against Baldoni during the filming of It Ends With Us, 

claims that The New York Times reported on in December 2024.

The New York Times Files Motion to Dismiss

On Friday, The New York Times submitted a motion in a New York federal court, arguing that its reporting on Lively’s sexual harassment accusations was fair and accurate. 

The newspaper maintains that Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, are presenting a one-sided narrative that does not implicate the publication in any legal wrongdoing.

According to the filing, The Times asserts that it was merely fulfilling its journalistic duty by covering the legal complaint that Lively filed with the California Civil Rights Department. The document states, “The Wayfarer Parties FAC tells a one-sided tale that has garnered plenty of headlines. But The Times does not belong in this dispute.”

Lively’s Response to Baldoni’s Lawsuit

A spokesperson for Lively strongly supported The Times’ motion to dismiss, condemning Baldoni’s lawsuit as nothing more than a “shameless PR document.” In a statement, the spokesperson criticized Baldoni for attempting to silence both Lively and the media, noting, “For years, Baldoni urged men to listen to and believe women. But when a woman spoke out about his behavior, he and his billionaire backer, Steve Sorowitz, used a social media combat plan to scorch earth and try to ‘bury’ and ‘destroy’ her, along with the media who reports on it.”

The statement further asserted that these “bullying tactics” would not hold up in court and called for the public to recognize the lawsuit for what it truly is—a strategic attempt to manipulate the narrative.

The Origins of the Legal Dispute

The legal battle intensified following The New York Times’ December 21, 2024, article titled We Can Bury Anyone: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine. The report detailed allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation that Lively made against Baldoni, sparking widespread media coverage.

Baldoni responded by filing an 87-page libel complaint in California, accusing The Times and its journalists of conspiring with Lively to damage his reputation. He claimed that the article “cherry-picked and altered communications, stripping them of necessary context to mislead readers deliberately.”

While the California case was later dropped, Baldoni’s legal team refiled the lawsuit in New York, adding The Times as a defendant alongside Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, and their publicist, Leslie Sloane.

The New York Times’ Defense

In its defense, The Times’ legal team argued that the publication should not be dragged into the ongoing feud between Lively and Baldoni. The filing pointed out that the Wayfarer Parties’ complaint, spanning over 224 pages, was primarily focused on their personal dispute, rather than any actual wrongdoing by the media outlet.

The memorandum accompanying The Times’ dismissal motion reinforced that the publication was merely reporting on a public legal filing made by Lively. It stated, “Despite the Wayfarer Parties’ hundreds of pages of screengrabs, outrage, and rhetoric, this is a very simple case: the article is absolutely privileged as a fair report, and the Wayfarer Parties’ defamation claim fails.”

A spokesperson for The Times, Danielle Rhoades Ha, echoed this sentiment, stating, “As our motion shows, this case should never have been brought against The New York Times. Blake Lively raised serious concerns about the way she was treated on set and after the movie’s release. We did exactly what news organizations should do: we informed the public of the complaint she filed with the California Civil Rights Department.”

She added, “Mr. Baldoni’s misbegotten campaign against The Times—questioning our ethics, attempting to discredit our reporting, and filing a baseless lawsuit—will not silence us.”

What’s Next in the Legal Battle?

As of now, no hearing date has been set for The Times’ motion to dismiss. The legal dispute continues to escalate, with both sides standing their ground.

Lively’s vocal support for The New York Times comes just days after she hired former CIA deputy chief of staff Nick Shapiro as her PR crisis manager, signaling that she is prepared for a long and intense legal fight against Baldoni.

With the case continuing to unfold, all eyes remain on the courtroom battle that has become one of Hollywood’s most high-profile legal disputes.

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