Justin Baldoni has been dropped by his talent agency, WME, in the wake of Blake Lively’s sexual harassment lawsuit.
The 40-year-old actor had been represented by WME but company bosses had him depart “at least in part” due to the sexual harassment lawsuit filed by his It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively, who is also represented by the firm, Deadline reports.
The decision came hours after Blake submitted her 10-claim complaint with the California Civil Rights Department late on Friday (local time), in which she accused Baldoni, his production company Wayfarer Studios and others involved with making the movie of sexual harassment and a “coordinated effort to destroy her reputation”.
The 37-year-old star claimed the film was shot amid a “hostile work environment that nearly derailed production” and alleged a campaign against her was launched by the actor – who also directed the movie – and his company after its release.
One of the demands mentioned in the lawsuit called for “no more adding of sex scenes … outside the scope of the script BL approved when signing onto the project.”
What’s more, Blake demanded “no more showing nude videos or images of women to Blake, no more mention of Baldoni’s alleged previous ‘pornography addiction’, no more discussions about sexual conquests in front of Blake and others, no further mentions of cast and crew’s genitalia, no more inquiries about Blake’s weight, and no further mention of Blake’s dead father”.
According to the lawsuit, Sony Pictures – the company responsible for distributing the film – approved the former Gossip Girl star’s requests.
But the actress has alleged that Justin subsequently engaged in a “social manipulation” campaign in a bid to “destroy” her reputation.
The actor has denied the allegations and accused her of making an attempt to “fix” her own “negative reputation”.
Bryan Freedman, who is acting as a lawyer for the actor and his Wayfarer Studios production company, told Variety: “It is shameful that Ms Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, as yet another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film; interviews and press activities that were observed publicly, in real time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions.”
The lawyer went on to accuse the Hollywood star of making “multiple demands and threats” during the production process.
He said: “These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.
“Wayfarer Studios made the decision to proactively hire a crisis manager prior to the marketing campaign of the film, to work alongside their own representative with Jonesworks employed by Stephanie Jones, due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production which included her threatening to not showing up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met.”
