Justin Baldoni gets ‘vigorous’ reaction by U.S. news outlet over libel lawsuit

Justin Baldoni’s libel lawsuit against a major U.S. news outlet has prompted a clarification.

The actor filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against The New York Times following the publication of an article addressing sexual harassment allegations made by his It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively.

The 87-page complaint, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, focuses on the Times’ December 21 article titled, We Can Bury Anyone: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.

Baldoni alleges that the piece was defamatory and presented a distorted account of events.

Producers of the film, Steve Sarowitz and Jamey Heath, echoed these concerns, claiming the Times “cherry-picked and altered communications” without providing sufficient context.

In response to the lawsuit, a spokesperson for The New York Times issued a statement defending their reporting.

“The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts where they lead,” the statement read.

“Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article.

To date, Wayfarer Studios, Mr. Baldoni, the other subjects of the article and their representatives have not pointed to a single error. We published their full statement in response to the allegations in the article as well. We plan to vigorously defend against the lawsuit.”

Meanwhile, Lively’s representatives responded to the lawsuit through Page Six, maintaining their confidence in her allegations.

“Nothing in this lawsuit changes anything about the claims advanced in Ms. Lively’s California Civil Rights Department Complaint, nor her federal complaint, filed earlier today,” the statement read.

“This lawsuit is based on the obviously false premise that Ms. Lively’s administrative complaint against Wayfarer and others was a ruse based on a choice ‘not to file a lawsuit against Baldoni, Wayfarer,’ and that ‘litigation was never her ultimate goal.’”