The attorney representing Justin Baldoni in his lawsuit against Blake Lively bristled at a joke made by the film star’s husband on “SNL50” Sunday night. In an interview on “Hot Mics with Billy Bush” recorded Monday and released Tuesday, Bryan Freedman said, “I’m unaware of anybody, frankly, whose wife has been sexually harassed and has made jokes about that type of situation. I can’t think of anyone who’s done anything like that. It surprised me.”
Reynolds appeared to reference the lawsuits filed by Lively and Baldoni against one another during the show. “SNL” alum Amy Poehler and Tina Fey approached Reynolds and asked, “How’s it going?”
A confused Reynolds, who was seated next to Lively, replied, “Great, why? What have you heard?”
Freedman also took the opportunity to defend his client, who recently took a trip to Hawaii with his wife. “I wouldn’t call it vacation. I don’t think anybody who has been accused of heinous, arguably what are crimes is on ‘vacation,’” he said. “I think he is trying to gather with his family and get some semblance of peace.”
Lively sued her costar and “It Ends With Us” director, as well as his PR team and people who work at Wayfarer Studios, in December. Her filing alleged sexual harassment and retaliation, two charges Baldoni has flatly denied. Baldoni filed his own lawsuit against Lively, Reynolds, the pair’s publicist, and the New York Times in January.
On Wednesday Lively’s legal team subpoenaed crisis firm consultant Jed Wallace as well as multiple wireless carriers to disprove so-called “receipts” provided by Baldoni’s team. “Ms. Lively has initiated discovery that will expose the people, tactics and methods that have worked to ‘destroy’ and ‘bury’ her reputation and family over the past year,” Lively’s lawyers Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson told TheWrap in a statement.
“Subpoenas went out to the entities [above]. We will now receive all of the ‘receipts’ that, unsurprisingly, are nowhere to be found on Mr. [Bryan] Freedman’s website, and like Ms. Lively, those ‘receipts’ will have their day in court.”
Freedman also told TheWrap, “Subpoenas are an ordinary part of the litigation process. What is extraordinary is what the Lively Parties are seeking. They are asking for every single call, text, data log and even real-time location information for the past 2.5 years, regardless of the sender, recipient or subject matter. This massive fishing expedition demonstrates that they are desperately seeking any factual basis for their provably false claims. They will find none.”
