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Blake Lively was supposed to host the season 50 premiere of Saturday Night Live in September, but the drama surrounding the release of It Ends With Us allegedly led her to drop out.
In a lawsuit obtained by Us Weekly after it was reported by TMZ and The New York Times on Friday, December 20, Lively’s lawyers stated that she scored the hosting gig but decided to back out amid tension with her It Ends With Us costar and director Justin Baldoni.
“The effects on Ms. Lively’s professional life were immediate and substantial,” the actress’ lawyers wrote of an alleged smear campaign against her. “Given the ongoing nature of the campaign and the associated negative public sentiment, Ms. Lively did not believe she could proceed with public appearances or events without being forced to openly discuss what happened on set.”
“For example, Ms. Lively canceled a critical Target corporate event for her hair care company [Blake Brown Beauty], and she backed out of her scheduled role to host the premier episode of the 50th anniversary season of Saturday Night Live in September 2024,” the suit added. (Hacks star Jean Smart went on as the host instead.)
Lively’s lawyers alleged that the actress’ professional commitments were impacted by what they believe was a “multi-tiered plan” to destroy her reputation after she called a meeting to address “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior” by Baldoni, 40, and a producer on the film.
In the suit, Lively, 37, sued Baldoni for sexual harassment and claimed his public relations team orchestrated the campaign against her during the promotion of It Ends With Us this summer.
“The emotional impact on Ms. Lively has been extreme, not only affecting her, but her family, including her husband and four children,” the complaint also alleged, referring to Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, and their kids: daughters James, 10, Inez, 8, and Betty, 5, and son Olin, 22 months.
In terms of the sexual harassment claims, Lively’s suit stated that she had to ask that Baldoni refrain from showing her videos of nude women and inquiring about her weight, as well as discussing his prior pornography addiction, his sexual exploits, and the cast and crew’s genitalia during filming.
The actress also requested that there not be any additional sex scenes added to the movie, which is about domestic violence, that were not in the original script.
Us reached out to Lively’s rep for comment but did not immediately hear back. In a statement to The New York Times regarding her lawsuit, Lively said, “I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted.”
Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, meanwhile, called Lively’s accusations “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious” in a statement to Us, claiming that Lively filed the lawsuit to “fix her negative reputation” and “rehash a narrative” about the film’s production.
Freedman further alleged that Lively made “multiple demands and threats” while filming It Ends With Us, including “threatening to not show up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met.”
