Blake Lively sued for defamation by crisis PR firm over Justin Baldoni legal battle
Blake Lively has been sued by a crisis management firm, which she claims played a key role in Justin Baldoni’s alleged smear campaign against her.On Tuesday, Jed Wallace of Street Relations filed a complaint in a Texas federal court obtained by The Post, accusing Lively of defamation for entangling him in her legal battle with her “It Ends With Us” co-star.Wallace’s suit centers on Lively’s previous claims that he allegedly created fake content on social media that seemed to target her while supporting Baldoni.Wallace is seeking a minimum of $7 million in damages, along with a court ruling affirming that he did not sexually harass or retaliate against the actress.The lawsuit arrived the same day Lively withdrew a petition submitted on Jan.
21 in Texas state court that, if granted, would have ordered Wallace to be deposed.Lively’s filing claimed that Wallace “weaponized a digital army around the country, including in New York and Los Angeles, to create, seed, manipulate, and advance disparaging content that appeared to be authentic on social media platforms and internet chat forums,” per KSAT 12 News.The actress may still add Wallace to the list of defendants in her federal lawsuit filed in New York against Baldoni and his company, Wayfarer Studios.Wallace’s lawsuit centers on Lively’s California Civil Rights Complaint, which accused him of sexual harassment, retaliation and aiding and abetting harassment and retaliation.“As Lively later admitted she knew of no facts to support the allegations,” Charles Babcock, a lawyer for Wallace, writes in the suit.“Neither Wallace nor Street had anything to do with the alleged sexual harassment, retaliation, failure to investigate or aiding and abetting the alleged harassment or alleged retaliation.
Neither could they have breached a contract with Lively because no such contract exists.”Lively’s earlier petition stated that Wallace referred to himself as a “hired gun” and claimed to have a “...