Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds Slammed With $400M Defamation & Extortion Suit By Justin Baldoni; L.A. Wildfires Now A Part Of ‘It Ends With Us’ Disputes

deadline.com:

We all knew a lawsuit from Justin Baldoni against Blake Lively was coming over what did or did not go down on It Ends With Us and the PR aftermath, and now it has – with a $400 million price tag attached. “At bottom, this is not a case about celebrities sniping at each other in the press,” says the defamation, extortion and four other claims complaint filed today in federal court in New York by the IEWU co-star and director, his Wayfarer Studios, PR team Melissa Nathan, Jennifer Abel and others against Lively, Ryan Reynolds, PR chief Leslie Sloane and Sloane’s VisionPR. “This is a case about two of the most powerful stars in the world deploying their enormous power to steal an entire film right out of the hands of its director and production studio,” the 179-page filing from attorney Bryan Freedman adds of franchise fave Reynolds and spouse Lively. “Then, when Lively and Reynolds’ efforts failed to win them the acclaim they believed they so richly deserved, they turned their fury on their chosen scapegoat.

Tolerating a year and a half of their behavior while remaining polite and professional at every turn offered Badoni and Wayfarer no protection.” Read Justin Baldoni’s $400M Defamation & Extortion Lawsuit Against Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds here Just over a week after being dropped by he, Lively and Reynolds’s mutual agency WME and seen awards revoked and a podcast co-cast exit over the claims his co-star made public, Baldoni sued the New York Times on New Year’s Eve for $250 million over its December 21 ‘We Can Bury Anyone: Inside A Hollywood Smear Machine’ story about Lively’s December 20 sexual harassment and retaliation filing against her IEWU co-star with the California Civil Rights Department.