Justin Baldoni has been dropped by WME.
Sources confirmed that the decision to part ways with the director and star of the movie “It Ends with Us” came from the agency on Saturday after Blake Lively filed a complaint of sexual harassment and retaliation against him on Friday night.
The sources said that Baldoni was informed of the decision on Saturday. WME also represents Lively, and based on the seriousness of the allegations in Lively’s complaint, the agency felt it necessary to take action quickly.
WME had no comment.
And in a copy of the complaint that I obtained diverse, Lively cited the “severe emotional harm” that Doni inflicted on her and her family, accusing him of sexual harassment and launching a smear campaign against her after the release of “It Ends With Us.” Shortly after the news broke, Baldoni’s attorney, Brian Friedman, blasted the accusations as “shameful” and “categorically false.”
According to the complaint filed with the California Department of Civil Rights, a meeting was held in January 2024 between Lively and Baldoni to address her return to the set of “It Ends with Us” following the end of the dual WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, was reportedly in attendance.
At the meeting in question, Lively alleged that Baldoni complained about her weight to her coach, discussed his sex life inappropriately and pressured her to disclose her religious beliefs. She also claimed that Jamey Heath, producer of “It Ends with Us” and CEO of Wayfarer Studios, showed her a video of his wife giving birth.
Lively also alleged that after she asked Baldoni not to add any more sex scenes than were already in the script, which Sony Pictures had agreed to according to the complaint, Baldoni launched a “social manipulation” campaign to “destroy” Lively’s reputation. diverse We have reached out to Sony Pictures for comment.
Other allegations in the filing include Heath and Baldoni describing their “past addiction to pornography” and breaking into her makeup trailer without warning while she was breastfeeding her newborn. The complaint also included emails and text messages between Lively, Baldoni and his publicity team explaining plans to respond to the actress’ complaints if they became public.
“It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such dangerous and categorically false accusations against Mr. Baldoni,” Friedman’s statement said. diverse About the complaint. “Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, as yet another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ the negative reputation they gained from their statements and actions during the film’s campaign; interviews and journalistic activities that were publicly observed, in real time, and unedited, allowing the Internet to form their own views and opinions.”
“These allegations are completely false, outrageous, and intentionally offensive with the intent to publicly hurt and reshape the narrative in the media,” Friedman continued. “Wayfarer Studios made the decision to proactively hire a crisis manager prior to the film’s marketing campaign, to work alongside their own representative with Jonesworks appointed Stephanie Jones, due to multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production which included threatening to not show up for filming, and threatening to not promote the film. , ultimately leading to its demise during its launch, if its demands were not met. It was also discovered that Ms. Lively had hired her own representative, Leslie Sloan of Vision PR, who… It also represents Mr. Reynolds, for planting negative, fabricated and completely false stories with the media, before any marketing for the film had even begun, which was another reason why Wayfarer Studios made the decision to hire a crisis specialist to begin internal scenario planning on the case they needed to address.
“Wayfarer Studios representatives did not do anything proactive or retaliatory, and only responded to incoming media inquiries to ensure balanced and factual reporting and monitor social activity,” the statement concluded. What is conspicuously missing from the selected correspondence is evidence of a lack of proactive action with the media or otherwise; Just internal scenario planning and private correspondence to strategize is standard operating procedure with PR professionals.
A Lively spokesperson noted diverse In a statement to the New York Times, she said: “I hope my legal action will help lift the curtain on these vicious retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak out about misconduct and help protect others who may be targeted.”