Blake Lively's legal team have blasted Justin Baldoni for allegedly launching "more attacks" on the star.
Blake Lively's legal team have issued a new statement
The 37-year-old actress filed a lawsuit against her 'It Ends with Us' co-star and director, as well as his publicists and producing partners, on 20 December accusing him of sexual harassment and orchestrating a bid to tarnish her reputation, and less than two weeks later, after branding the claims "false, outrageous and intentionally salacious", Justin sued the New York Times for $250 million over their reporting of Blake's complaint and accused the former 'Gossip Girl' star of being the one who "engaged in a calculated smear campaign".
And now, Blake's lawyers have insisted her “serious claims of sexual harassment and retaliation” are “backed by concrete facts.”
They told People magazine in a statement: “This is not a ‘feud’ arising from ‘creative differences’ or a ‘he said/she said’ situation.
"As alleged in Ms. Lively’s complaint, and as we will prove in litigation, Wayfarer [Studios] and its associates engaged in unlawful, retaliatory astroturfing against Ms. Lively for simply trying to protect herself and others on a film set. And their response to the lawsuit has been to launch more attacks against Ms. Lively since her filing."
They went on to accuse Justin and his representatives of victim blaming and attempting to "trivialise" serious allegations.
Th statement continued: “Sexual harassment and retaliation are illegal in every workplace and in every industry.
“A classic tactic to distract from allegations of this type of misconduct is to ‘blame the victim’ by suggesting that they invited the conduct, brought it on themselves, misunderstood the intentions, or even lied.
"Another classic tactic is to reverse the victim and offender, and suggest that the offender is actually the victim. These concepts normalise and trivialise allegations of serious misconduct.
“Most importantly, media statements are not a defense to Ms. Lively’s legal claims. We will continue to prosecute her claims in federal court, where the rule of law determines who prevails, not hyperbole and threats."
Justin and his lawyers claimed that Blake launched her lawsuit in an effort to "reshape her public persona" with "salacious, headline-grabbing allegations".
His lawsuit reads: "Lively’s cynical abuse of sexual harassment allegations to assert unilateral control over every aspect of the production was both strategic and manipulative.
"Simultaneously, her public image suffered as a result of a series of high-profile blunders, which she tried to deflect by blaming Plaintiffs for the public’s prying interest into the foibles of an A-list celebrity. This is nothing but an excuse. Fame is a double-edged sword, but Lively’s tactics here are unconscionable."
A spokesperson for the New York Times, has revealed that the publication plans to "vigorously defend against the lawsuit".
As well as the legal action against the newspaper, the 40-year-old actor's lawyer later voiced an intention to countersue Blake.
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