Justin Baldon's Lawsuit Against the 'New York Times' Is Baseless Trash

On December 21, Blake Lively filed a complaint against Justin Baldoni, his studio, and an It Ends with Us producer. This complaint (a precursor to a lawsuit) coincided with the release of a NYTimes article detailing allegations outlined in the complaint.

Shortly after, Stephanie Jones—a former publicist for Baldoni—sued Baldoni and his PR crisis team, including her former employee Melissa Nathan, accusing them of stealing documents, poaching Baldoni as part of Nathan’s effort to start her own PR agency, and launching a smear campaign against Lively. Jones alleged that Nathan “secretly conspired” to undermine her reputation, steal clients, and blame her for the smear campaign targeting Lively.

On December 31, Justin Baldoni countersued the NYTimes for $250 million, claiming its article about Lively’s complaint had cherry-picked text messages to portray him negatively. His lawsuit also alleged that Blake Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, conspired to ruin his reputation and pressured his agency, WME, to sever ties with him. In response, Lively filed a civil rights lawsuit based on her initial complaint, accusing Baldoni and his associates of retaliating against her for exposing sexual misconduct on set.

I’ve read Baldoni’s 87-page complaint against the New York Times in full, and here’s my takeaway: Baldoni himself cherry-picks instances to argue that the NYTimes cherry-picked quotes from thousands of pages of text messages. While this may have happened in a few cases, many allegations — such as Lively’s claims that Baldoni harassed and demeaned women on set, discussed his prior porn addiction, and admitted to having non-consensual sex — remain unaddressed by him.

Arguably, the most startling claim in Baldoni’s suit is that Ryan Reynolds allegedly berated him for fat-shaming Lively. It’s unclear why Baldoni chose to include this in his legal complaint against the NYTimes, but if he was trying to make Reynolds look bad, it’s a misfire. “How dare Ryan Reynolds call me out for fat-shaming his wife!” isn’t exactly the smoking gun he thinks it is.

Let’s take a step back and strip away the PR spins and legal posturing. After the Hollywood strike ended and filming resumed, Baldoni and his team agreed — per a contract — to stop engaging in the inappropriate behaviors Lively had outlined. Once filming wrapped, Baldoni hired a PR crisis firm, notably one that had represented Johnny Depp, to manage potential fallout.

Why hire a crisis firm unless he anticipated a PR disaster stemming from leaks about his on-set behavior? Notably, Lively sued Baldoni and his studio. Baldoni, however, didn’t sue Lively — only the NYTimes for alleged inaccuracies. Why? Because he has no legal grounds to sue Lively. Doing so would only underscore her claim of retaliation.

What does Baldoni actually have here? That Lively and Reynolds were “mean” to him? Even if that’s true, the agreement to on-set behavior modifications suggests why: Baldoni harassed Lively, fat-shamed her, demeaned other women, agreed to stop, and then hired a crisis firm to keep it all quiet. The lawsuits paint a clear picture, and it’s not a flattering one for Baldoni.

Ultimately, the lawsuits, allegations, and PR maneuvers seem to underscore one undeniable fact: Justin Baldoni’s behavior on set created an environment so toxic that it required formal intervention and legal accountability. While Baldoni’s countersuit against the NYTimes may be an attempt to salvage his reputation, it does little to address the core allegations against him or the broader issues of power dynamics and misconduct in Hollywood. Instead, it serves as a reminder of how often those in positions of power attempt to shift the narrative rather than take responsibility.