Blake Lively’s publicist, Leslie Sloane, filed a request to be removed from Justin Baldoni’s $400 million defamation and extortion lawsuit, claiming she was included as a co-defendant as a distraction.
The Hollywood veteran alleged in a motion filed Thursday and obtained by Page Six that the “It Ends With Us” director’s legal team “dragged” her and her company, Vision PR, into the litigation as “smoke and mirrors” for their client’s “own sexual harassment and systematic retaliation.”
Sloane, via her lawyers, blasted Baldoni, 41, in the filing over his feminism advocacy, claiming he has wrongfully benefited from the #MeToo Movements and that it was “sheer hypocrisy” given his alleged “egregious sexual harassment of multiple employees.”
The publicist did not name the alleged victims — aside from Lively. This particular claim was also made in Lively’s amended complaint, which was filed earlier this week.
The “Gossip Girl” alum, 37, claimed that she “was not alone in complaining about Mr. Baldoni” and alleged that other women were willing to testify about those allegations. However, no other co-stars or crew members have come forward to publicly accuse Baldoni of harassment.
Sloane added in her filing Thursday that the actor-director’s lawsuit is an attempt to “discredit and blame his victims and punish anyone who speaks out against him.”
She said Baldoni’s allegations about Lively boil down to the fact that she was “too ambitious, too outspoken, and she should have accepted Baldoni’s bizarre and abusive practices without complaint—no matter how uncomfortable they made her and other women on set.”
Page Six has reached out to Baldoni’s reps for comment in response to Sloane’s latest statements but did not immediately hear back.
The longtime publicist — who represents Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, as well — also vehemently denied that she planted any “malicious stories” or launched a “smear campaign” against Baldoni.
Instead, she resurfaced Lively’s claims made in her initial California Civil Rights Department complaint and subsequent lawsuit that it was Baldoni’s publicity team who disparaged the “Age of Adeline” star.
Sloane once again highlighted texts her attorneys obtained in which the “Jane the Virgin” alum’s crisis manager said she could “bury” anyone and “destroy” Lively’s life.
“Other than one New York Times article that they cannot plausibly connect to Ms. Sloane or her company in any way, the Wayfarer Parties do not identify a single ‘malicious story’ that is part of their invented ‘smear campaign,’” her lawyers argued in the court documents.
“All Ms. Sloane did was respond to a press inquiry about a story that Baldoni’s team seemingly planted.”
Baldoni and his publicists have also vehemently denied putting a plan in action to control online narratives and disparage Lively’s reputation.
The actor’s lead lawyer, Bryan Freedman, previously told Page Six in response to those claims, “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.”
Sloane further claimed in her filing that Baldoni’s team has been unable to prove that she extorted their client and alleged there is insufficient evidence to prove that she defamed him.
Aside from seeking to be removed from the case, she is also asking to court to cover her attorneys’ fees and costs under New York’s anti-SLAPP law.
Sloane first made it known that she wanted to be dismissed from Baldoni’s lawsuit in late January in a filing in which Lively and Reynolds, 48, said they, too, wanted to be removed.
The judge on the case has not yet made a decision. A trial date for Lively and Baldoni’s consolidated cases has been set for March 9, 2026, since all parties declined to move forward with mediation.
