The crisis PR firm with a role in the “It Ends With Us” feud between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively has sued the actress for defamation, seeking $7 million in damages for allegedly dragging the company into the bitter battle playing out in the courts and the press.
In a complaint filed Wednesday in a Texas federal court and obtained by TheWrap, Jed Wallace of Street Relations accused Lively of falsely accusing him in a web of lawsuits and complaints of creating fake social media content to smear her. He is also seeking a court statement that he was not involved in harassment or the alleged campaign.
Lively’s team declared the lawsuit just another “retaliation” for her speaking out about sexual harassment on the set of “It Ends With Us.”
“Another day, another state, another nine-figure lawsuit seeking to sue Ms. Lively ‘into oblivion’ for speaking out against sexual harassment and retaliation,” the statement reads. “This is not just a publicity stunt — it is transparent retaliation in response to allegations contained within a sexual harassment and retaliation complaint that Ms. Lively filed with the California Civil Rights Department. While this lawsuit will be dismissed, we are pleased that Mr. Wallace has finally emerged from the shadows, and that he too will be held accountable in federal court.”
Lively petitioned to depose Wallace in a Texas state court in January, accusing him of launching online harassment of the actress as part of Baldoni’s public relations response to their public falling-out. That petition was dropped this week, but the lawsuit could be seen as a preemptive strike against Wallace potentially being named as a defendant in her lawsuit against Baldoni and his Wayfarer production company.
Baldoni has counter-sued Lively and The New York Times, saying they colluded for months to defame him. Wallace’s lawsuit says Lively improperly accused him and his company of illegal harassment and retaliation in a complaint filed with the California Civil Rights Department.
“Neither Wallace nor Street had anything to do with the alleged sexual harassment, retaliation, failure to investigate or aiding and abetting the alleged harassment or alleged retaliation,” the documents state. “Neither could they have breached a contract with Lively because no such contract exists.”
Lively and Baldoni got along during preproduction on “It Ends With Us,” but the director says the relationship broke down as the actress began to improperly assert control of the film while cameras rolled. Lively says a culture of sexual harassment on the set became unbearable, and the retaliation and smear campaign began after she first spoke out in the civil rights complaint.
