Justin Baldoni has been dropped by WME after Blake Lively accused him of sexual harassment in a complaint filed on Friday, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The news follows reports that Lively is pursuing legal action against her It Ends With Us co-star and director.
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In her filing, the Simple Favor actress — also represented by WME alongside her husband, Ryan Reynolds — accused Baldoni and his colleagues at Wayfarer Studios of sexual harassment and an alleged coordinated effort to damage her reputation. Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, dismissed the allegations as “shameful,” “serious and categorically false.”
Lively claims in her filing that the situation on set escalated to the point where a meeting was held with herself, Sony Pictures, Baldoni, Jamey Heath from Wayfarer Studios, producers, and publicists to address “inappropriate conduct” that occurred.
The actress and her team presented a list of demands for Baldoni and his team before production could resume after the actors’ strike. Some of the 30 demands included: “No more showing nude videos of women, including the producer’s wife, to BL or her employees”; “No more discussing Mr. Baldoni’s or Mr. Heath’s past ‘pornography addiction’ or BL’s lack of pornography consumption with BL or other crew members”; “No more descriptions of their genitalia to BL”; and “No more improvising kissing scenes.”
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The complaint also highlights that the It Ends With Us cast and crew were contractually required to promote the film according to a predefined marketing plan, which emphasized “Lily’s [Lively’s character] strength and resilience” and aimed to present the film as a story of hope, avoiding a focus on its domestic violence elements.
However, Baldoni deviated from this approach in the days leading up to the film’s release, focusing more on the domestic violence themes. The filing alleges that Baldoni and his team used domestic violence “survivor content” in an effort to explain why many cast and crew members had unfollowed him on social media and avoided appearing with him publicly, claiming they did so to protect his image.