- WME says Ryan Reynolds wasn’t the reason why Justin Baldoni was dropped
- Blake Lively and Baldoni are embroiled in a legal drama
- It all originates from the set of their movie It Ends With Us
Justin Baldoni was not dropped by his talent agency because of Blake Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, sources report.
The talent agency William Morris Endeavour has denied rumors that they received pressure from Lively and Reynolds at the Deadpool and Wolverine premiere to drop the actor and director from their roster.
This comes after the claim was made in a $250 million lawsuit filed by Baldoni and nine other plaintiffs against the New York Times. This filing follows the outlet publishing an investigation detailing a string of allegations against Baldoni from Lively.
They centred on his alleged conduct on and off the set of It Ends With Us.
They included allegations of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment. Baldoni, who directed the Coleen Hoover book adaption, denies any and all wrongdoing.
What did WME say about Justin Baldoni’s legal claim?
Baldoni’s former talent agency, who dropped him after the story broke, denied they did so because of pressure from the Deadpool star.
“In Baldoni’s filing there is a claim that Reynolds pressured Baldoni’s agent at the Deadpool & Wolverine premiere. This is not true,” the talent agency told The Hollywood Reporter. “Baldoni’s former representative was not at the Deadpool & Wolverine premiere nor was there any pressure from Reynolds or Lively at any time to drop Baldoni as a client.”
Read more: The Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni drama explained
Baldoni’s lawsuit claims that Baldoni and his company Wayfarer Studios “grew increasingly fearful of what Lively and Reynolds were capable of, as their actions seemed aimed at destroying Baldoni’s career and personal life.”
When was Justin Baldoni dropped by WME?
The Jane The Virgin star was let go by his talent agency on 21 December, hours after The New York Times published their story about the legal complaint filed by Lively. Since his suit against the Times was filed, Lively filed one against Baldoni.
Along with claims of sexual harassment, the Gossip Girl star also alleges that Baldoni and his PR team orchestrated a smear campaign against her.
Lively’s case is not just against Baldoni; it also names Wayfarer and his publicists who Lively claims to have helped push smears against her.
What are some of the things that Blake Lively alleges in her suit?
Lively details a number of alleged inappropriate instances in her lawsuit from Baldoni, Jamey Heath and more.
These include Baldoni adding a graphic sex scene without her permission, asking her questions about her sex life with her husband and pressuring her into nudity she wasn’t comfortable on set.
She also claims that Heath went into her trailer “while she was topless and having body makeup removed by makeup artists” and looking after she had instructed him to turn around.
In addition, the papers claim that Lively had voiced her issues before filming started about Baldoni allegedly started ad libbing “physical intimacy that had not been rehearsed, choreographed, or discussed with Ms. Lively, with no intimacy coordinator involved.”
What else does Justin Baldoni allege in the lawsuit?
The filing, which was made public on New Year’s Eve, was made in Los Angeles Superior Court. Along with Baldoni, it includes nine other names as plaintiffs.
It accuses the newspaper of working with Lively’s team to promote “an unverified and self-serving narrative” by deploying “cherry-picked and altered communications stripped of necessary context.” In addition, it says the Times did not include evidence that disproved her claims.
