Justin Baldoni Accuses Blake Lively’s Publicist of Making Him a ‘Scapegoat’

Days after Blake Lively’s publicist Leslie Sloane filed a motion to be removed from his lawsuit, Justin Baldoni’s legal team is firing back in new court docs obtained by “Extra.”

Baldoni’s lawyers oppose the dismissal request, claiming, “The Sloane Parties played an active and integral role in a conspiracy to inflict harm on the Wayfarer Parties.”

The docs alleged, “In a desperate effort to salvage Lively’s reputation and to escape her wrath, the Sloane Parties conspired with Lively and consolidated defendants Ryan Reynolds and The New York Times Company to make scapegoats of the Wayfarer Parties for Lively’s woes."

“On information and belief, the Sloane Parties worked for months to drop breadcrumbs and hints of sinister allegations to the public while secretly feeding defamatory falsehoods to any reporter who would listen,” the docs insisted. “As a direct result of the actions of the Sloane Parties and their co-conspirators, the Wayfarer Parties have been damaged beyond measure. These are the facts underpinning the Wayfarer Parties’ allegations against the Sloane Parties, and this is what the evidence will prove at trial."

Sloane’s legal team responded to the docs, telling People magazine, “As our motion to dismiss makes clear, Leslie Sloane and her company Vision PR were dragged into this lawsuit in an attempt to distract from serious allegations of sexual harassment and systematic retaliation."

They added, “The irony is not lost on us that Baldoni and his team have wrongfully accused Leslie Sloane of engaging in the very same misconduct for which they stand accused. The claims against Leslie Sloane were brought as a baseless finger-pointing exercise. We look forward to setting the record straight on our grounds for dismissal and removing Leslie Sloane from this litigation, putting the rightful focus on the serious issues and allegations before the court."

In February, Sloane asked to be taken out of Baldoni’s $400M defamation lawsuit against Lively and Ryan Reynolds, claiming that her PR company was being “dragged” into the legal battle, adding, “The Wayfarer Parties dragged Leslie Sloane and Vision PR, Inc. into the instant litigation as a smoke and mirrors exercise to distract from their own sexual harassment and systematic retaliation.”

As for Baldoni’s extortion claims, Sloane’s legal team argued, “The Wayfarer Parties accuse Ms. Sloane and Vision PR, Inc. of extortion but do not (and cannot) identify where or how the alleged extortion occurred, or how Ms. Sloane or Vision PR, Inc. received anything of value because of that extortion. 

At a recent court hearing, Judge Lewis J. Liman described Lively and Baldoni’s ugly legal battle as “a feud between PR firms.”

In December, Lively initially filed a legal complaint with the California Civil Rights Department claiming Baldoni sexually harassed her on set. She also accused him of a smear campaign in a New York Times article. In return, he sued The New York Times, which denied any wrongdoing. 

Lively then sued Baldoni, and he sued her back. Both parties have also denied any wrongdoing.