Actor and director Justin Baldoni has filed a $250 million lawsuit against The New York Times, alleging that the newspaper published a "defamatory" story centered on accusations by actress Blake Lively, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
Baldoni, facing legal action from Lively over claims of sexual harassment and orchestrating a smear campaign, stated that the December 21 article relied heavily on "unverified and self-serving narratives" from Lively while ignoring "substantial evidence contradicting her claims and exposing her true motives," The Washington Post quoted.
The lawsuit further alleges that The NYT collaborated with Lively’s team, claiming, “Given the breadth of the article and its timing, it is evident that the publication had been quietly coordinating with Lively’s representatives for weeks or months."
Baldoni is also accusing The NYT of not providing enough time for him and his team to respond to Lively’s allegations, publishing the article two hours earlier than he claims he was initially told, The Washington Post included.
The NYT defended their article in an emailed statement, “Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article,” wrote Danielle Rhoades Ha, senior vice president of external communications for The NYT.
“... We published their full statement in response to the allegations in the article as well. We plan to vigorously defend against the lawsuit,” The Washington Post reported.
Allegations against Baldoni
Lively’s allegations surround her recent movie, It Ends With Us, in which Baldoni co-starred and directed.
In The NYT article, the newspaper reported that Lively “had complained that the men (Baldoni and Jamey Heath, the lead producer) had repeatedly violated physical boundaries and made sexual and other inappropriate comments to her.”
In her lawsuit, which Lively filed last week, she claimed that Baldoni and Heath had "a goal to ruin her reputation" after the two hired a crisis public relations expert before the release of the film, The NYT wrote.