Justin Baldoni sues ‘New York Times’ for $250 million

‘It Ends With Us’ director Justin Baldoni sued ‘The New York Times’ for libel on Tuesday over its story on allegations that he sexually harassed and sought to smear the reputation of the film’s star, Blake Lively.

The lawsuit seeking at least 250 million dollars was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, the next major move in a growing story that has made major waves in Hollywood. It alleges the ‘Times’ and Lively coordinated a smear campaign against Baldoni and his nine fellow plaintiffs. The ‘Times’ stood by its reporting and said it plans to “vigorously defend” against the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs include the film’s lead producer Jamey Heath, its production company ‘Wayfarer Studios’ and crisis communications expert Melissa Nathan, whose text message was quoted in the headline of the December 21 Times’ story: “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.”

Written by Megan Twohey, Mike McIntire and Julie Tate, the story was published just after Lively filed a legal complaint that is usually a predecessor to a lawsuit with the California Civil Rights Department over her alleged treatment. Both her legal complaint and the ‘Times’ story alleged that Baldoni enlisted publicists and crisis managers in a plan to destroy Lively’s reputation if she went public with her on-set concerns.

Baldoni’s lawsuit says the newspaper ‘relied almost entirely on Lively’s unverified and self-serving narrative, lifting it nearly verbatim while disregarding an abundance of evidence that contradicted her claims and exposed her true motives. But the ‘Times’ did not care’.

A spokesperson for the ‘Times’, Danielle Rhoades, said in a statement that ‘our story was meticulously and responsibly reported’.