The New York Times is suing actor Justin Baldoni’s manufacturing company for legal prices over a dropped $400 million defamation go well with – piling on to a advanced web of legal motion between “It Ends With Us” co-stars Baldoni and Blake Lively.
The paper is looking for unspecified damages from Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios to cowl the prices of a lawsuit he filed – that was later dismissed – alleging the New York Times, Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds falsely accused him of a smear marketing campaign and sexual harassment.
“The District Court’s opinion makes clear that Wayfarer and its affiliates both commenced and continued the lawsuit against The Times without a substantial basis in fact and law,” the Times said in a grievance filed Tuesday in New York state Supreme Court.
It’s the newest go well with in a advanced web of legal motion between “It Ends With Us” co-stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. GC Images
Bryan Freedman, an leisure lawyer representing Baldoni and Wayfarer, instructed The Post: “Win, lose, or draw, we refuse to cave to power brokers even in the face of seemingly impossible odds.”
“If the current laws protect legacy media in this manner, perhaps it’s up to us to ignite that change,” he added.
It’s just the newest development in a dramatic legal battle between Baldoni and Lively.
The “Gossip Girl” star has accused him of sexual harassment – including sharing undesirable particulars of his intercourse life and porn habit – during the filming of their romantic drama, which premiered in August 2024. She alleged Baldoni then orchestrated a smear marketing campaign against her.
In its lawsuit this week, the New York Times – which last yr revealed a detailed investigative report on Lively’s claims, as effectively as her full legal grievance – argued that its reporting is protected by New York’s honest report privilege.
The law protects information retailers from defamation circumstances over correct reports on legal proceedings.
Statements made in those articles “were not plausibly made with actual malice,” the Times said.
Baldoni and his company, Wayfarer – which optioned the rights to adapt Colleen Hoover’s ebook “It Ends With Us” – initially filed a $250 million lawsuit accusing the New York Times of defamation.
It later wrapped the newspaper into a $400 million go well with against Lively, Reynolds and Lively’s publicist, Leslie Sloane.
The New York Times argued that its reporting is protected by New York’s honest report privilege law. Christopher Sadowski
His lawsuits took purpose at the Times’ reporting, as effectively as Lively’s claims, which she first reported to California’s Civil Rights Department in late 2024 and later filed in a New York lawsuit.
In Baldoni’s countersuit, he denied ever appearing inappropriately during the filming of “It Ends With Us,” and claimed Lively engaged in much of the conduct she talked about in her lawsuits.
US District Judge Lewis J. Liman dismissed Baldoni’s go well with in June, arguing that the Times’ reporting on Lively’s legal grievance is protected by honest report privileges, and that Lively’s sexual harassment accusations are also legally protected.
US District Judge Lewis J. Liman dismissed Justin Baldoni’s (above) go well with in June. Getty Images
In Baldoni’s countersuit, he denied ever appearing inappropriately during the filming of “It Ends With Us.” ©Sony Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
A trial date for Lively’s lawsuit is tentatively set for March 9, 2026.
“It is clear from the district court’s opinion that the claims against The Times lacked any basis in fact or law,” the Times said in its lawsuit this week.
It argued that New York’s anti-SLAPP law – which is designed to block lawsuits stifling free speech – “requires that The Times be awarded its costs and attorney’s fees and such other compensatory damages as the court deems just and proper.”