The The New York Times says the story at the center of actor Justin Baldoni’s $250 million lawsuit against the paper has been “carefully and responsibly reported” as rhetoric on both sides heats up.
Actress Blake Lively previously filed a lawsuit against Baldoni, her “It Ends With Us” co-star, for sexual harassment, retaliation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and more. Lively also claims that Baldoni carried out and participated in a campaign of “social manipulation” to destroy her career and reputation.
On Dec. 21, the Times published a bombshell story titled “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside Hollywood’s Smear Machine,” which reported on private emails and text messages that showed “a handbook for running a largely invisible smear campaign in the digital age ” about Živahna, a 37-year-old actress married to the star of “Deadpool”. Ryan Reynolds.
However, Baldoni and other subjects of the Times piece, including Hollywood PR gurus, claim that the Times article “deliberately omitted portions of the text exchange and other information that contradicted the actress’ version of events.” They claim the Times defamed them in the process, omitting critical context from communications that challenge many of Lively’s claims, and filed an 87-page lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
ACTOR JUSTIN BALDONI FILES $250 MILLION DEFAMATION LAWSUIT AGAINST THE NEW YORK TIMES
The New York Times says the story at the center of actor Justin Baldoni’s $250 million lawsuit against the paper was “meticulously and responsibly reported.”
New York Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha said the paper plans to “vigorously defend itself.”
“The role of an independent newspaper is to follow the facts where they lead. Our story was reported meticulously and responsibly. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including text messages and emails that we quote accurately and extensively in the article. Those texts and emails were also at the heart of a discrimination lawsuit filed in California by Blake Lively against Justin Baldoni and his associates,” said Rhoades Ha Fox News Digital.
“To address some of the inaccuracies in the lawsuit, when we sought comment from Mr. inaccuracies, provide additional context and speak to our team,” she continued. “Baldoni, traveler [Studios] and other entities decided not to speak to The Times or address any of the specific text messages or documents and instead sent an email common responsewhich was published in its entirety.”
The Times executive also said a joint response was sent to the Times hours before the complaint was published.
“They sent their response to The Times at 11:16 p.m. ET on Dec. 20, not 2:16 a.m. ET on Dec. 21 as stated in the complaint,” Rhoades Ha said. “We plan to vigorously defend against the lawsuit.”
A Times insider pointed to other errors in the lawsuit, including the wrong word count in the report, and said all of the text messages used for the story came directly after the disclosure.
The Times insider is also confused by the lawsuit’s focus on the timing of the report, as the filing alleges the reporters breached an “implied contract” when they gave Baldoni and others until noon the next morning to respond to the allegations, but published the story at 10:11 a.m. ET , since the paper has already received an answer.
Blake Lively has accused Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment in a federal lawsuit filed on Tuesday, December 31. (Getty Images)
Baldoni’s high-powered lawyer, Bryan Freedman, accused the Times of pandering to the Hollywood elite.
“In this vicious smear campaign entirely orchestrated by Blake Lively and her team, the New York Times has bowed to the wishes and whims of two powerful ‘untouchable’ Hollywood elites, disregarding journalistic practices and ethics once befitting a respected publication by using faked and manipulated stories and deliberately omitting texts that challenge their chosen PR narrative,” Freedman said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“In doing so, they predetermined the outcome of their story and aided and abetted their own devastating PR smear campaign designed to revitalize Lively’s self-inflicted faltering public image and counter an organic outpouring of criticism among the online public,” he added. . “Irony is rich.”
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds at the New York premiere of “It Ends With Us” at AMC Lincoln Square Theater on August 6, 2024 in New York City. (Getty Images)
Freedman harshly criticized the Times, accusing the paper of misleading the public.
“While their side accepts partial truths, we accept the full truth — and we have all the communications to back it up. The public will make up its own mind as they did when this started,” Freedman said.
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Fox News Digital’s Lauryn Overhultz and Christina Dugan Ramirez contributed to this report.
