“The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts where they lead,” a spokesperson for The New York Times said in a statement to press. “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. We published their full statement in response to the allegations in the article as well. We plan to vigorously defend against the lawsuit.” In an email to Vanity Fair, a Times spokesperson disputed the claim that the newspaper did not provide a sufficient time to respond to the allegations and said that “Baldoni, Wayfarer, and the other subjects chose not to have any conversations with the Times or address any of the specific text messages or documents.”
After the Times story was published, Lively received public support from many key players in It Ends With Us—including author Colleen Hoover and costars Jenny Slate and Brandon Sklenar, as well as studio Sony Pictures, which said of Lively in a statement to Deadline: “We strongly condemn any reputational attacks on her.”
Baldoni, meanwhile, has been dropped from the talent agency William Morris Endeavor, which also represents Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds. In his suit, Baldoni claims that Lively and Reynolds pressured an WME agent to drop the actor at the Deadpool & Wolverine premiere. In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, WME denied that Baldoni’s former representative attended the event or that there was “any pressure from Reynolds or Lively at any time to drop Baldoni as a client.”
Baldoni has denied Lively’s claims of sexual harassment, including allegations that the studio ignored her request to have an intimacy coordinator present while shooting sexual scenes, and that Baldoni made inappropriate comments on set and entered Lively’s trailer without consent as she breastfed. In the suit, Baldoni argues that he hired a crisis PR firm as a “protective measure” ahead of the film’s premiere, claiming that Lively attempted to seize control of the movie during production before coordinating a “strategic and manipulative” smear campaign of her own.
“Nothing in this lawsuit changes anything about the claims advanced in Ms. Lively’s California Civil Rights Department Complaint, nor her federal complaint, filed earlier today,” attorneys for Lively said in a statement to press. “This lawsuit is based on the obviously false premise that Ms. Lively’s administrative complaint against Wayfarer and others was a ruse.… While we will not litigate this matter in the press, we do encourage people to read Ms. Lively’s complaint in its entirety. We look forward to addressing each and every one of Wayfarer’s allegations in court.” Vanity Fair has reached out to a representative for Lively for further comment.