Joe Rogan is team Justin Baldoni in the ongoing legal battle between the actor-director and his “It Ends With Us” co-star Blake Lively. Speaking on a recent episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” with guest Brendan Schaub, Rogan said Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds “fucked up” in trying to bring “sweet, nice guy” Baldoni down.
“They were trying to take over the movie and the franchise,” Rogan claimed of Lively and Reynolds. “The whole thing is crazy. [Baldoni] is suing The New York Times. He has a great case there, too… She told him to come into the dressing room while she was breast feeding and then part of her complaint was that he came into the dressing room while she was breast feeding. They have text exchanges going back and forth. They just thought no one was going to come out with the receipts. Everyone is scared of them. Ryan and Blake are A-list.”
As previously reported by Variety, Lively filed a letter in December with the California Civil Rights Department in which she claimed that Baldoni sexually harassed her during the production of “It Ends With Us.” The letter also included allegations of Baldoni waging a 2024 smear campaign against Lively in the lead up to and during the movie’s theatrical release. Lively’s allegations became the basis of a New York Times report, which kicked off a legal back and forth between the director and his star.
On New Year’s Eve, Baldoni and nine other plaintiffs, including his crisis publicist Melissa Nathan, sued the New York Times for $250 million for libel over their initial story about Lively’s allegations. Lively then sued Baldoni and the group for violating federal and California state law “by retaliating against her for reporting sexual harassment and workplace safety concerns.” The director then sued Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds for $400 million for civil extortion, defamation and other actions.
Reynolds asked the court earlier this month to dismiss Baldoni‘s legal claims against him, saying the actor cannot sue him over “hurt feelings.” Reynolds was accused in the lawsuit of mocking and bullying Baldoni by using the character of Nicepool in “Deadpool & Wolverine” to satirize Baldoni’s “woke feminist” image. In a motion to dismiss the suit, Reynolds’ lawyers did not dispute that Nicepool is based on Baldoni but said that Baldoni had shown “thin-skinned outrage” by complaining about it.
Lively also filed a motion this month to throw out Baldoni‘s $400 million defamation suit against her, arguing that the suit is retaliation for lodging a sexual harassment claim.
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