Justin Baldoni’s lawyer: Texts in Blake Lively’s lawsuit are out of context

Justin BaldoniAfter that, the lawyer speaks again Blake Lively sued accusing It ends with us director and star of sexual harassment — and of launching a “social manipulation” campaign against her to “destroy” her reputation.

“TAG PR was operating like any other crisis management firm when it was hired by a client threatened by two extremely powerful people with unlimited resources.” Brian Friedman said in a statement to Us Weekly. (TAG PR, also known as The Agency Group PR, was hired by Baldoni and is one of several firms named in the lawsuit.)

Friedman continued, “The standard planning script put together by TAG PR proved unnecessary as audiences found Lively’s own actions, interviews and marketing during the promotional tour distasteful and reacted organically to the media themselves picking up.”

In a statement, Friedman argued that the text exchange between Baldoni and his public relations team was taken out of context in the lawsuit.

On the topic: Blake Lively claims Justin Baldoni wrote a message that ruined her reputation

Blake Lively claims that ‘It Ends With Us’ co-star and director Justin Baldoni allegedly ran a “social manipulation” campaign to damage her reputation. On Saturday, December 21, it became known that 37-year-old Lively sued 40-year-old Baldoni for sexual harassment. According to The New York Times, the lawsuit, which was filed on Friday, December 20, (…)

“It’s ironic that New York Timesthrough their efforts to “expose” a dodgy public relations effort, played directly into Lively’s own questionable public relations tactics by releasing leaked private text messages that lack critical context — the very tactics she accuses the firm of using.” Friedman concluded.

The long court documents filed on Friday, December 20 were first published The New York Times on Saturday, December 21. The documents refer to “thousands of pages of text messages and emails” that Lively reportedly obtained through a subpoena, though Friedman now claims they have been released. In response to that claim and Friedman’s latest statement, a member of Lively’s legal team speaks us: “The subpoena disclosed and referenced in the complaint was served on Jonesworks LLC. The internal documents referred to in the complaint were produced pursuant to that subpoena. We expect more details about the subpoena process to be revealed during discovery.”

One of the alleged text messages that made headlines involves a publicist working with the studio and Baldoni writing to a crisis management expert: “He wants to feel like he can bury her.”

The documents state that “this plan went far beyond standard crisis PR,” and Baldoni’s team proposed a concept called “astroturfing,” defined as “the practice of publishing opinions or comments online to the media.” etc. which appear to come from ordinary members of the public but actually come from a particular campaign or political group.’

According to the documents, Baldoni “created a narrative for the campaign on social media.” In one example, Baldoni appeared to use a social media post about Hailey Bieber “who accused another celebrity of bullying women.” Baldoni wrote in the text, “This is what we’re going to need.”

Baldoni also mentioned Taylor Swift while messaging his crisis management team, a script planning document from Baldoni appeared to say, “Our team may also explore spinning stories about weaponizing feminism and how people like Taylor Swift are being accused of using this tactic to “bully” to get what they want.”

According to the documents, Lively experienced a series of inappropriate actions on the set, from Baldoni allegedly adding sex scenes and nudity to the script, to crude comments about unwanted kisses in scenes between the two characters. As a result, Lively and several cast members decided to do press independently of Baldoni and unfollowed him on social media. The fans started notice the gap around the August release date, which worried Baldoni.

When “almost all cast members chose to appear in public separately from Mr. Baldoni, given his behavior on set,” according to the documents, Baldoni allegedly “became concerned that the public would discover that ‘there was something much bigger beneath the surface.’

On the topic: Taylor Swift is mentioned in Justin Baldoni’s alleged plan to take down Blake Lively

(Photo by Emma McIntyre/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management) Justin Baldoni’s crisis management team mentioned Taylor Swift in their alleged plan to destroy Blake Lively. On Friday, Dec. 20, Lively, 37, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Baldoni, 40, and her allegations against him include creating a “hostile work environment” and causing the actress (…)

He also allegedly changed his social media strategy. “After the film premiered, Mr. Baldoni changed his Instagram profile, removed frivolous social media posts, and instructed his team to seek out reactions and support from survivors, all in an attempt to quickly shift his public narrative to focus solely on survivors and internal organizations dealing with violence,” the documents state.

After the lawsuit was filed, Friedman called Lively’s allegations “completely false, outrageous and intentionally obscene.” usclaiming that Lively sued to “correct her negative reputation” and “reframe the narrative” about the film’s production.

us reached out to Lively’s rep for comment, but did not immediately hear back. In a statement to The New York Times of her lawsuit, Lively said, “I hope my lawsuit will help pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about wrongdoing, and help protect others who may be targeted.”