Kaitlin Olson, nominated for an Emmy, has openly supported Blake Lively in her legal battle with actor-director Justin Baldoni. The dispute centers on allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation at work during the production of “It Ends with Us.”
Ohlson wrote on Instagram on Thursday that Lively was “a kind, lovely, honest, and generous person (and an amazing mom).” Her sharing coverage of Lively’s allegations against Baldoni highlighted the close links between their families. James Olson and Ryan Reynolds, married to Blake Lively, own the Welsh football club Wrexham A.F.C. together.
Today, Lively filed an 80-page complaint with the California Civil Rights Department. This support comes at the same time. The complaint says that Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, made the workplace hostile, which harmed the production of the domestic violence drama. When Lively reported wrongdoing on the set, she says she became the target of a coordinated campaign to hurt her image. In her complaint, she calls this an “Astroturfing” campaign.
“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,” Lively told Deadline in a comment.
According to the complaint, Baldoni and Melissa Nathan, a crisis communications consultant for The Agency Group PR LLC, sent and received text messages. Lively’s legal team offers these messages as proof of the alleged smear campaign. This scandal has already hurt Baldoni’s career, which caused WME to stop representing him.
Baldoni has vehemently denied the allegations through his lawyer, Bryan Freedman. He said they were “completely false, outrageous, and meant to be scandalous,” he said they were trying to hurt him in public and bring up a bad story in the media. Baldoni’s team says that the WhatsApp messages that Lively used in her complaint have been taken out of context.
Stephanie Jones, who started Baldoni’s old PR company, Joneworks, has now sued Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and publicists Nathan and Jennifer Abel, taking the legal battles to a new level. Jones accuses Baldoni of defamation and breach of contract, saying she wrongly blamed her for the smear campaign even though she knew nothing about it.
Baldoni is planning to file a counter-suit after the New Year. Freedman isn’t sure what legal steps will be taken, but he has hinted that they will “shock everyone who has been manipulated into believing a demonstrably false narrative.” He compared it to other well-known media disputes. He said, “In more than 30 years of practicing law, I have never seen this level of dishonesty purposely fueled by media manipulation.”
