What texts and messages Blake Lively’s legal complaint against It Ends With Us co-star show

Published

7 months ago

December 22, 2024

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Documents from actress Blake Lively’s legal complaint about her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni claim to show how his PR team deliberately “planted pieces of how horrible Blake is to work with” in the press and on social media.

The legal complaint, filed to the California Civil Rights Department on Friday, contains pages of text messages allegedly sent between Baldoni and his PR team.

Lively, 37, claims that Baldoni, 40, who is also the director of the film, hired crisis PR management to engage in a “multi-tiered” plan to damage her reputation after she and her husband Ryan Reynolds, 48, complained of “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behaviour” on set of the movie.

A lawyer representing Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios says the allegations are “completely false, outrage and intentionally salacious”.

He adds that the studio and its PR team “did nothing proactive nor retaliated” against Lively – and that it hired crisis PR managers “due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms Lively during production”.

The text messages, which Lively says she acquired through a subpoena, involve exchanges between Jennifer Abel, of PR firm RWA Communications, Melissa Nathan, of The Agency Group PR, and Baldoni.

They include:

Details of two quotes of PR packages – one costing “£175k” for a “3-4 month period” including “full reddit, full social account take downs”;
Another PR package costing “$25k per month” for “min 3 months” that includes “creation of social fan engagement to go back and forth with any negative accounts, helping to change the narrative and stay on track”;
Baldoni asking Ms Abel “What is the TikTok strategy” and saying “I’d like you guys to start posting me ONLY talking about domestic violence and clips and why this movie is so important”;
Ms Abel telling Ms Nathan she was “having reckless thoughts of wanting to plant pieces this week of how horrible Blake is to work with”;
Ms Abel saying: “The narrative online is so freaking good and fans are still sticking up for Justin” and telling Ms Nathan “you did such amazing work”;
Ms Nathan telling Ms Abel: “The majority of socials are so pro Justin and I don’t even agree with half of them lol”;
Ms Nathan replying to Ms Abel: “Narrative is CRAZY good”;
Ms Nathan telling Ms Abel: “We can’t write it down to him… We can’t write we will destroy her”;
Ms Nathan adding: “you know we can bury anyone”;
Ms Nathan saying to Ms Abel: “Don’t worry, I didn’t kill her and send her in a box to your house”, to which Abel replies: “DAMNIT”;
Ms Nathan telling Ms Abel socials are “really really ramping up”, to which Ms Abel adds: “It’s actually sad because it just shows you have people really want to hate on women”.

The text messages appear to date between 15 May and 18 August this year. It Ends With Us was released on 9 August.

In one other exchange, Baldoni expresses concerns his PR team may have been deploying fake “bots” to “take her [Lively] down” on social media, to which Ms Nathan replies: “I can fully confirm we do not have bots.”

The legal documents also include the alleged list of conditions Lively submitted for her “returning to production” after she alleged sexual harassment on set.

They include “no one entering… BL’s trailer while she is in a state of undress” and “no discussions of personal experience with sex or nudity”.

Lively’s legal complaint claims Baldoni “abruptly pivoted away from” the film’s marketing plan and “used domestic violence ‘survivor content’ to protect his public image” after the sexual harassment allegations came out.

Baldoni brands Lively’s claims ‘shameful’

Mr Freedman, representing Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios, says in his statement: “It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, as yet another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film; interviews and press activities that were observed publicly, in real time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions.

“These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media. Wayfarer Studios made the decision to proactively hire a crisis manager prior to the marketing campaign of the film, to work alongside their own representative with Jonesworks employed by Stephanie Jones, due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production which included her threatening to not showing up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met.

“It was also discovered that Ms. Lively enlisted her own representative, Leslie Sloan with Vision PR, who also represents Mr. Reynolds, to plant negative and completely fabricated and false stories with media, even prior to any marketing had commenced for the film, which was another reason why Wayfarer Studios made the decision to hire a crisis professional to commence internal scenario planning in the case they needed to address.

“The representatives of Wayfarer Studios still did nothing proactive nor retaliated, and only responded to incoming media inquiries to ensure balanced and factual reporting and monitored social activity. What is pointedly missing from the cherry-picked correspondence is the evidence that there were no proactive measures taken with media or otherwise; just internal scenario planning and private correspondence to strategize which is standard operating procedure with public relations professionals.”

Lively says in a statement to the New York Times: “I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted.”

The August release of It Ends With Us, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel, was shrouded by speculation over discord between the lead pair.

Baldoni took a backseat in promoting the film while Lively took centre stage along with Reynolds, who was on the press circuit for Deadpool & Wolverine at the same time.

Sky News has contacted Jessica Abel and RWA Communications for comment.

Entertainment

Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who played The Cosby Show’s Theo, drowns in Costa Rica

Published

5 hours ago

July 21, 2025

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Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who played The Cosby Show's Theo, drowns in Costa Rica

Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who played The Cosby Show character Theo, has drowned in Costa Rica, according to authorities.

The country’s Judicial Investigation Department said the 54-year-old actor drowned on Sunday afternoon off a beach on the Caribbean coast.

It is understood he was swimming at Playa Grande de Cocles in Limon province when he was pulled underwater by a current.

“He was rescued by people on the beach,” according to the department’s early report, but emergency workers from Costa Rica’s Red Cross found him without any signs of life and he was taken to the morgue.

Warner was on holiday with his family at the time, according to US celebrity news site People.

The Cosby Show aired from 1984 to 1992 on NBC in the US and is regarded as a groundbreaking show for its portrayal of a successful black middle-class family. It was also shown on Channel 4 in the UK at around the same time.

Its star, Bill Cosby, played a doctor named Cliff Huxtable, with Warner in the role of Theo, his only son.

The NBC sitcom was the most popular show in America for much of its run between 1984 and 1992.

Warner played the role for eight seasons in all 197 episodes, winning an Emmy nomination for supporting actor in a comedy in 1986.

For many, the lasting image of the character, and of Warner, is of him wearing a badly-botched mock designer shirt sewn by his sister Denise, played by Lisa Bonet.

Warner ‘proud’ of show despite Cosby claims

The legacy of The Cosby Show has been tarnished after Cosby was jailed in 2018 following a conviction for sexual assault.

He was released in 2021 after his conviction was overturned.

Dozens of women had accused Cosby of sexual assault or rape before the trial.

Following his release from prison, Cosby was found liable for sexually assaulting a woman at the Playboy Mansion in 1975 when she was a teenager.

Warner told the Associated Press in 2015: “My biggest concern is when it comes to images of people of colour on television and film… We’ve always had ‘The Cosby Show’ to hold up against that. And the fact that we no longer have that, that’s the thing that saddens me the most because in a few generations the Huxtables will have been just a fairy tale.”

In 2023, Warner told People in an interview: “I know I can speak for all the cast when I say The Cosby Show is something that we are all still very proud of.”

Read more entertainment news:
Danny Dyer on Mr Big Stuff
Scuffle breaks out on Royal Opera House on stage

Warner wins a Grammy

Following his career on The Cosby Show, Warner later appeared on the sitcom Malcolm & Eddie, co-starring with comedian Eddie Griffin in the series on the UPN network from 1996 to 2000.

In the 2010s he starred opposite Tracee Ellis Ross as a family-blending couple for two seasons on the BET sitcom Read Between The Lines.

He also had a role as OJ Simpson’s friend Al Cowlings in American Crime Story and was a series regular on Fox’s The Resident.

Films he has appeared in include the 2008 rom-com Fool’s Gold with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson.

A poet and a musician, Warner won a Grammy for best traditional R&B performance for the song Jesus Children with Robert Glasper and Lalah Hathaway. He was also nominated for best spoken word poetry album for Hiding In Plain View.

Warner was married with a daughter, but chose to not publicly disclose their names.

Entertainment

Danny Dyer on Mr Bigstuff, Oasis, and his surprising screensaver

Published

12 hours ago

July 21, 2025

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Danny Dyer on Mr Bigstuff, Oasis, and his surprising screensaver

From Human Traffic and The Business to his critically acclaimed performance in the raunchy TV adaptation of Rivals, via a stint as Queen Vic landlord Mick Carter in EastEnders, Danny Dyer has been on our screens for more than 30 years.

But it was his performance in the TV comedy Mr Bigstuff that earned him his first BAFTA win – and one of the ceremony’s biggest cheers from the audience – earlier this year.

Now, he returns to his prize-winning role for the second series of the Sky show, which tells the story of two estranged brothers – Glen (played by creator Ryan Sampson), an anxious carpet salesman living his ideal suburban life with fiancee Kirsty (Harriet Webb), and Lee (played by Dyer), an alpha male who struts back into his brother’s life carrying their father’s ashes.

Several EastEnders alumni feature, including Nitin Ganatra, Victoria Alcock and Linda Henry, who played Dyer’s on-screen mother, Shirley Carter.

Reflecting on some of Albert Square’s most famous characters and who would work well in Mr Bigstuff, Dyer says he would have loved to see the late June Brown, who played the chain-smoking hypochondriac Dot Cotton for 35 years, taking on a role.

“Absolute legend,” he says.

Sampson suggests the late Dame Barbara Windsor, who played the formidable Queen Vic landlady Peggy Mitchell, but has a clear pitch if season three gets the green light.

“It could still be a possible, it would be amazing,” he says. “You want your Pat Butcher, don’t you? You want Pam St Clement. Why hasn’t she played a mafia boss yet? She’d be amazing. She’d be incredible at it.”

Dyer reveals his screensaver

After his long career on screen, Dyer is now enjoying playing a variety of roles alongside the Cockney geezer types that became his bread and butter in the early noughties.

His nuanced performance as awkward entrepreneur Freddie Jones in Rivals brought him praise from fans and critics alike, and Mr Bigstuff his BAFTA.

But Dyer always had range. After small TV roles in shows including The Bill and A Touch Of Frost, he grew close to the Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter in 2000 after auditioning and earning the role of a waiter in his play Celebration at the Almeida Theatre in Islington, north London.

“I’ve got Harold Pinter as a screensaver on my phone,” he says. “I always feel that he’s sort of looking down on me or close to me, so I like to just feel that he’s around me.”

Dyer continued the role in Celebration both in the West End and on Broadway, with Pinter becoming his mentor in the process.

In 2020, he presented a Sky Arts documentary, Danny Dyer On Pinter, which explored the life, career and impact of the playwright and screenwriter, who died in 2008.

He also has plans to develop a stage tribute to his friend, currently titled When Harry Met Danny.

Reflecting on his entry into the industry, he says theatre was quite inaccessible at the time, but Pinter opened it up to him.

“I think it’s even worse now, which I feel is a sad state of affairs,” he says. “I don’t know why that is. Everything’s become quite elite. All the elite f****** looking after themselves, so that needs to change.”

‘Love in the air’ at Oasis gig

But Pinter isn’t his only big influence – Dyer was one of the thousands of fans to see Oasis make their return to the stage in Cardiff earlier this month.

“It was really emotional seeing them come out,” he says. “There was a lot of love in the air, a lot of good energy.

“You know, there’s a lot of f****** shit going on. I think people, of my age as well, just want to jump around and sing them songs at the top of their lungs. So I’m still recovering, I’m not going to lie.”

Mr Bigstuff returns for season two on Thursday, on Sky Max and NOW

Entertainment

Scuffle breaks out on stage of Royal Opera House after performer unfurls Palestinian flag

Published

12 hours ago

July 21, 2025

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Scuffle breaks out on stage of Royal Opera House after performer unfurls Palestinian flag

A brief scuffle broke out at London’s Royal Opera House after a performer unfurled a Palestinian flag during a show.

The incident took place during a performance of Il Trovatore on Saturday.

During the final night of the 11-night run of the show, a performer held up the flag on stage.

In video footage, shared online, someone backstage could be seen attempting to take it off the performer. The performer grabs it back following a brief scuffle.

A spokesperson for the Royal Ballet and Opera said: “The display of the flag was an unauthorised action by the artist.

“It was not approved by the Royal Ballet and Opera and is a wholly inappropriate act.”

The reaction to the flag was mixed, with some people heard applauding and cheering, while another audience member was heard saying “oh my God”.

One poster on X, who claimed to have been a member of the audience, said: “Extraordinary scenes at the Royal Opera House tonight.

“During the curtain call for Il Trovatore one of the background artists came on stage waving a Palestine flag. Just stood there, no bowing or shouting. Someone off stage kept trying to take it off him. Incredible.”

Performers show support for Palestinians

A number of performers have shown support for Palestinians amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

During Glastonbury Festival, numerous acts offered messages of support during their sets, including Kneecap, Bob Vylan, Wolf Alice, and Amyl And The Sniffers.

During her band’s set, Wolf Alice singer Ellie Rowsell told the crowd at the Other Stage: “Whilst we have the stage for just a little bit longer, we want to express our solidarity with the people of Palestine.

“No-one should ever be afraid to do that.”

Following their performances, both Kneecap and Bob Vylan faced investigation by Avon and Somerset Police.

Bob Vylan were widely criticised after leading on-stage chants of “death to the IDF” (Israel Defence Forces).

The performance was live-streamed by the BBC, sparking a backlash against the broadcaster – which later issued an apology.

The investigation into Kneecap was later dropped, with the police saying there was insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction for any offence”.