Justin Baldoni's lawyers accuse Blake Lively of starting a 'feeding frenzy'
Justin Baldoni's legal team have accused Blake Lively of having "started a media frenzy" and urged her request for them to be silenced be dismissed.
Justin Baldoni's legal team have accused Blake Lively of having "started a media frenzy".
The 37-year-old actress is currently suing her 'It Ends With Us’ co-star and director for sexual harassment and attempting to destroy her reputation, while he has hit back with a lawsuit accusing her of extortion and defamation, and after the 'Gossip Girl' star and her husband Ryan Reynolds have sought a protective order to prevent Justin's legal team from speaking out and engaging in "improper conduct", they have requested the "outrageous" request be denied.
A letter obtained by People magazine saw Justin's lawyer Kevin Fritz ask the judge to deny the gagging order if it is formally requested, branding it an "intimidation tactic".
They wrote: "[Lively's] desire to force the Wayfarer Parties to defend themselves privately against allegations made publicly is not a proper basis for a gag order.
"It is tactical gamesmanship, and it is outrageous."
The lawyers argued the 41-year-old actor and his associates at Wayfarer Studios, which was also named in the actress' lawsuit, have been "exiled from polite society and suffered damages totaling hundreds of millions of dollars" after her complaint came to light.
They branded the fallout "utterly calamitous" as Justin and his colleagues "instantly became objects of public scorn and contempt."
The letter went on to argue Blake started "the media feeding frenzy" by alleging she provided a copy of her original complaint to the New York Times, who broke down her allegations against the movie in their 'We Can Bury Anyone' article, which was published in December.
Justin subsequently sued the news outlet over the article before launching his own legal action against Blake.
In their request to the judge, Blake and Ryan alleged lawyer Bryan Freedman and his team have embarked on a "harassing and retaliatory media campaign" against them and accused the lawyer of violating court rules that stop legal counsel from making comments to the media that are irrelevant to a case and could prejudice a jury.
The couple specifically cited the release of unedited footage from the making of the movie, which was released earlier this week.
The letter alleged the actress previously issued Justin's Wayfarer Studios a cease-and-desist letter and also send a second to his lawyer last month.
Earlier this week, video footage was released which Justin's team claimed would prove the "mutual respect and professionalism" between the movie's two leads.
But in response, Blake's team insisted the video - in which the pair joked about Justin's nose and her spray tan - simply proved her allegations.
