The ever-growing exchange of accusations in the Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni legal skirmish is threatening to rope in a cast of Hollywood stars, with pop star Taylor Swift its latest casualty.
Mr. Baldoni’s legal team on Friday subpoenaed Ms. Swift, who is a close friend of Ms. Lively’s, alleging that the actress has cited the songstress as one of her “dragons” in defending her sexual harassment lawsuit against the “It Ends With Us” actor/director.
Already embroiled in the proceedings is Ms. Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds — and his “Deadpool and Wolverine” co-star Hugh Jackman is likely to be included. Mr. Baldoni has claimed that the Nicepool character in the blockbuster superhero film is an unkind parody of himself.
It’s not clear whether Mr. Jackman had any influence on the creation of that character, but Hollywood insiders say it’s irrelevant to whether he’ll be called on to testify.
“Anyone that had any knowledge of this situation will be subpoenaed, no matter their celebrity status,” an insider told People magazine.
Ms. Lively has accused Mr. Baldoni of sexual harassment during the production of their hit movie, and Mr. Baldoni has accused her of defamation and civil extortion, claiming she launched a public relations campaign to damage his reputation.
Mr. Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, officially served a subpoena to Ms. Swift on Friday. In response, the pop star’s team issued a sharp statement denying any involvement in the matter.
“Taylor Swift never set foot on the set of this movie,” a spokesperson told People, adding that she had no role in casting, production or post-production.
Media reports suggest Ms. Swift was privately displeased about being drawn into the feud and felt “used” by Ms. Lively, though she has made no public comment on the state of their friendship.
“[Ms. Swift] didn’t even see the film until weeks after its release,” the spokesperson said, noting that Ms. Swift had been headlining her record-breaking Eras Tour throughout 2023 and 2024.
The singer’s team said the only connection was her approval of a single song, “My Tears Ricochet,” for use in the film. Representatives accused Mr. Baldoni’s team of invoking Ms. Swift’s name for publicity.
“This is clickbait at its worst,” the spokesperson said.
Ms. Lively’s feud with Mr. Baldoni publicly erupted after The New York Times reported late last year that she had been victim of a calculated online smear campaign from Mr. Baldoni’s PR team.
The report coincided with her formal sexual harassment complaint with the California Civil Rights Department in December. She filed a federal lawsuit in New York days later.
Mr. Baldoni denied the allegations and responded with a 179-page countersuit in January, asking for $400 million in damages, and accusing Ms. Lively, Ryan Reynolds and their publicist of defamation and civil extortion.
Since it began, the case has spurred comparisons to the 2022 defamation trial between actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, which became a live-streamed cultural phenomenon.
Mr. Depp sued Ms. Heard over a Washington Post op-ed she wrote describing herself as a domestic abuse survivor. A jury largely sided with Mr. Depp, awarding more than $10 million in damages and igniting a public reckoning over the limits of #MeToo.
“Amber Heard and JD seemed to actively abuse one another … Blake seems to be the perpetrator in all,” one Reddit supporter of Mr. Baldoni wrote.
Mr. Baldoni alleges that Mr. Reynolds and Ms. Lively not only used their famous pals to force him into accepting creative changes, he claims they later excluded him from the film’s premiere.
Further, Mr. Reynolds is accused of publicly calling Mr. Baldoni a “predator,” a statement the suit claims was defamatory and contributed to Mr. Baldoni’s professional fallout, including being dropped by his talent agency.
The Baldoni team also published an open-to-the-public website, thelawsuitinfo.com, containing legal documents and a timeline of events they allege disproves Ms. Lively’s claims of sexually inappropriate behavior.
In a podcast this year, Benjamin Chew, who represented Johnny Depp in 2022, called the Baldoni team’s highly public strategy “bold” and “aggressive,” but added that while “posting a pleading doesn’t seem to be out of bounds … advocacy pieces … get closer to the line.”
This comment came shortly after a judge overseeing preliminary case specifics told both parties to cool their legal bickering in public.
Meanwhile, the public can’t get enough. TikTok and YouTube creators have seized on the saga, fascinated by the public nature of the case and the growing cast of famous characters surrounding it.
“I’m literally reading through the receipts of Justin Baldoni’s 179-page lawsuit,” one TikToker said.
As The Atlantic reported, the case has become a fixation for so-called “lawsuit influencers,” who break down filings line-by-line for massive audiences and sometimes sell merch in the process. The Lively and Baldoni PR teams, media experts say, are well aware.
“When a public figure is accused, they’ll start using social media platforms to manage their brand, manage their image. It has a direct impact on the people who are following them and following the case,” Pallavi Guha, a journalism professor at Towson University and writer on #MeToo, told The Washington Times.
She added that it’s likely Ms. Lively and Mr. Baldoni are largely focused on what happens to their respective film careers upon the trial’s commencement.
The court of public opinion, however, remains split.
One Redditor fan of Ms. Lively said Mr. Baldoni had plenty of on-set detractors willing to verify the Gossip Girl actress’ account.
“The idea that this guy harrassed multiple women, created an unsafe workplace and now started this smear campaign against blake lively to keep her quiet makes me sick, the user wrote. “It somehow made people pick Justin’s side even more because [they say] Blake is just a drama queen that’s after attention.”
Conservative commentator Megyn Kelly disagrees, and took direct aim at Ms. Lively’s credibility on the Time 100 red carpet last month.
“I don’t think what she’s doing to Justin Baldoni is in any way fair … She thought she was going to file this #MeToo claim against him and get The New York Times to write about it,” Ms. Kelly told the media. “And instead, he lawyered up … and started fighting her back on each and every claim.”
Stephanie Bonnes, a University of New Haven professor who studies harassment and institutional response, said the backlash against Ms. Lively is part of a larger pattern consistent with similar, less popular cases.
“I don’t think we have a culture that believes women about harassment,” Ms. Bonnes told The Washington Times. “When it’s a beautiful celebrity … there’s an extra layer of disdain. It’s kind of like, ’What do you have to complain about?’”
Some readers, however, just want to stop hearing about the case altogether.
“I’m going to need someone to subpoena [’It Ends With Us’ author] Colleen Hoover so I can complete the ’It Never Ends With Anybody’ mess of a bingo card I have going,” wrote a Reddit user.
The Baldoni-Lively trial is set for March 2026.
