WME is insisting that Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively did not pressure the agency to drop their former client, Justin Baldoni. The clarification comes a day after Baldoni sued the New York Times, based on their report on Lively's legal complaint against Baldoni, in which she alleged harassment and a coordinated effort by Baldoni's team to destroy her reputation.
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00:00WME is insisting that Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively did not pressure the agency to drop
00:05their former client, Justin Baldoni.
00:08The clarification comes a day after Baldoni sued the New York Times, based on their report
00:13on Lively's legal complaint against Baldoni, in which she alleged harassment and a coordinated
00:19effort by Baldoni's team to destroy her reputation.
00:23Baldoni's suit claims fraud, breach of contract and libel, saying the publication conspired
00:28with Lively's team to advance an unverified and self-serving narrative using cherry-picked
00:34and altered communications stripped of necessary context, and ignored evidence that contradicted
00:40her claims.
00:41The lawsuit alleges that Baldoni learned that Reynolds approached his WME agent at the Deadpool
00:46and Wolverine premiere and demanded that the rep drop Baldoni.
00:50However, WME says that Baldoni's claims didn't happen.
00:54In Baldoni's filing, there is a claim that Reynolds pressured Baldoni's agent at the
00:58Deadpool and Wolverine premiere.
01:00This is not true.
01:02Baldoni's former representative was not at the Deadpool and Wolverine premiere, nor was
01:06there any pressure from Reynolds or Lively at any time to drop Baldoni as a client.
01:11Baldoni was swiftly dropped from WME on December 21, just hours after news broke of Lively
01:17accusing him of sexual harassment in a legal complaint filed the day before.
01:22The same day Baldoni filed his lawsuit, Lively filed her own official suit related to their
01:27ongoing legal battle.
01:29For more details on this story, head to THR.com.
01:32And for the latest entertainment news and updates, keep watching The Hollywood Reporter
01:36News.