Justin Baldoni’s legal team accuses Blake Lively of inventing sexual harassment claims
Freedman insisted Baldoni “kindly” addressed Lively’s concerns in private despite her “many wrongdoings” during the making of the movie as he was determined to “keep the peace”.
And the lawyer branded the Gossip Girl star “self-serving and selfish”.
He continued: “Mr Baldoni never once publicly attempted to call Ms Lively out for her own many wrongdoings during filming, he kindly addressed all her concerns during filming in the correct manner despite the fact that he wholly disagreed, he himself was committed to do things differently and to keep the peace as she specifically admitted to in her own lawsuit.
“We will not only continue to defend our clients against Blake’s power, privilege and all-out lies, but we will now fight even harder for the voiceless in the DV community who are unfairly suffering while she continues to push on her own self-serving and selfish vendetta in the media.”
Lively’s lawyers had blasted Baldoni’s lawsuit in their own statement and insisted it would “fail”.
They said: “This latest lawsuit from Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and its associates is another chapter in the abuser playbook. This is an age-old story: A woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim. This is what experts call DARVO. Deny. Attack. Reverse Victim Offender.
“Wayfarer has opted to use the resources of its billionaire co-founder to issue media statements, launch meritless lawsuits, and threaten litigation to overwhelm the public’s ability to understand that what they are doing is retaliation against sexual harassment allegations.
“They are trying to shift the narrative to Ms Lively by falsely claiming that she seized creative control and alienated the cast from Mr Baldoni. The evidence will show that the cast and others had their own negative experiences with Mr Baldoni and Wayfarer. The evidence will also show that Sony asked Ms Lively to oversee Sony’s cut of the film, which they then selected for distribution and was a resounding success.
“Their response to sexual harassment allegations: she wanted it, it’s her fault. Their justification for why this happened to her: look what she was wearing. In short, while the victim focuses on the abuse, the abuser focuses on the victim.
“The strategy of attacking the woman is desperate, it does not refute the evidence in Ms Lively’s complaint, and it will fail.”