In the center of the controversy they are found Blake Lively and Justin Baldoniactors who shared credits in the 2024 movie, It ends with us. The legal dispute, which began with a complaint of sexual harassment by Lively against Baldoni, has taken a surprising turn with the summons to declare Taylor Swift As a witness.
The news has generated a fulminating response by the Swift team. His representative issued a statement to Dailymail.com where he categorically denied any significant implication of the singer in the filming of the film. “Taylor Swift was never on the set of the film, he did not participate in casting or creative decisions, he did not compose the soundtrack, he never saw an edition or made annotations, and even saw ‘It ends with us’ weeks after his premiere; he was on a world tour during 2023 and 2024 leading the biggest tour in the story,” It reads in the statement.
Swift’s only link with production, according to its representation, was the license to use its theme My Tears Ricochetsomething that, it should be noted, shared another 19 artists. The counterpart of using the name of Swift is accused to generate media interest and divert attention from the central facts of the case.
Lively’s lawyer, Mike GottliebHe confirmed that his client will testify at the trial, noting that the demand focuses on the harassment suffered by his represented during filming and not on collateral aspects such as musical selection. Gottlieb questioned the relevance of citations to other celebrities, arguing that it seeks to generate headlines instead of focusing on the truth. “You cannot simply cite people because they are famous and it is believed that it will generate holders. Federal courts do not tolerate that kind of behavior,” affirmed.
For his part, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan FreedmanHe rejected Gottlieb’s statements and accused Lively’s defense of trying to divert the attention of the case. Freedman argued that the truth is demonstrated by evidence, and even referred to alleged text messages from Lively where he referred to Swift and Ryan Reynolds (Lively husband, involved in the contrademanda) as his “dragons”, comparing with Khaleesi of game of Thrones.
Lively’s initial demand, an extensive complaint of 80 pages before the California Civil Rights Department, resulted in a federal demand for sexual harassment. Baldoni, in turn, responded with a defamation and extortion contrademanda against Lively, Reynolds and his publicist, Leslie Sloane, reaching a figure of 400 million dollars. In the center of all this is the movie It ends with usa blockbuster success that raised $ 148 million at the domestic box office and $ 350 million worldwide.
