Justin Baldoni Wasn't Dropped by WME at Request of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, Agency Says

• WME denied they were pressured by Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds to drop Justin Baldoni as a client
• In Baldoni’s filing, he claims that Reynolds pressured his agent to stop working with him in the Deadpool & Wolverine premiere
• As of December 21, WME dropped Baldoni as a client

Talent agency William Morris Endeavor has denied that Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds pressured it to drop Justin Baldoni, a day after Baldoni filed a $250 million lawsuit against The New York Timeswhich includes an allegation that a pair of superstars tried to force his agency to drop him.

In the lawsuit, filed Tuesday, Dec. 31, in Los Angeles Superior Court and obtained by PEOPLE, Baldoni, 40, claims that Reynolds, 48, demanded that his agent, WME, leave him on Deadpool & Wolverine premiere.

“The reign of power and influence has become undeniable,” the filing states. “Baldoni and Wayfarer grew increasingly fearful of what Lively and Reynolds were capable of, as their actions seemed intent on destroying Baldoni’s career and personal life.”

Justin Baldoni in December 2024.

Araya Doheny/Variety via Getty

Justin Baldoni filed a $250 million lawsuit The New York Times Via Blake Lively article

However, in the statement for The Hollywood ReporterWME denied Baldoni’s claims that he was pressured to drop him.

“In Baldoni’s filing, there is an allegation that Reynolds pressured Baldoni’s agent in the Deadpool & Wolverine premiere. That is not true,” the agency said on Wednesday, January 1, per THR. “Baldoni’s former representative was not there Deadpool & Wolverine premier nor was there any pressure from Reynolds or Lively at any time to drop Baldoni as a client.”

Representatives for WME did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

As of Dec. 21, WME has dropped Baldoni, according to multiple outlets including Deadline, which first reported the news.

Decision on rejection Jane the Virgin alum was made in part because of a complaint filed by his It ends with us costar Lively, who accused Baldoni, among other things, of sexual harassment, per Deadline. Lively, 37, is also a WME client and remains repped by the agency.

Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, called the allegations “false, outrageous, and intentionally malicious with the intent to cause public injury.”

At the time, WME had no comment when contacted by PEOPLE, and a rep for Baldoni did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

On Tuesday, December 31, Baldoni was among the plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit against timeaccusatory newspaper about the article’s use of “‘chosen’ and altered communications stripped of necessary context and deliberately spliced ​​together to mislead.”

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Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds in August 2024.

John Nacion/Variety via Getty

Blake Lively v Justin Baldoni case: Inside the ‘stressful’ ordeal (Exclusive)

“In this vicious smear campaign completely orchestrated by Blake Lively and her team, The New York Times bowed to the wishes and whims of two powerful ‘untouchable’ Hollywood elites, disregarding journalistic practices and ethics once befitting a respected publication by using faked and manipulated stories and deliberately omitting stories that challenge their chosen PR narrative,” Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, said in he told PEOPLE.

Representatives of the actress did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

On the same day, December 31, Lively’s lawyers filed a federal lawsuit against Wayfarer Studios, Baldoni and other parties in the Southern District of New York.

“Ms. Lively previously filed her complaint with the California Department of Civil Rights in response to Wayfarer’s retaliation campaign against her for reporting sexual harassment and workplace safety concerns,” Lively’s attorney said in a statement to PEOPLE. “Unfortunately, Ms. Lively’s decision to speak out resulted in further retaliation and attacks.”

Lively initially filed a major lawsuit alleging sexual harassment and retaliation against Baldoni, his production company and others on Dec. 20, a precursor to filing a discrimination lawsuit in California.

The complaint, which includes texts obtained by subpoena, was summarized in a report published on December 21. The New York Timesclaims that “behind closed doors” Lively “suffered grief, fear, trauma and extreme anxiety” as a result of Baldoni’s alleged behavior, including showing her explicit images and videos, probing her personal sex life and attempting to add an intimate scene to the film that was originally she did not agree.

In the complaint, Lively also claims that Baldoni went out of his way to criticize her “age and weight.”

The lawsuit also alleges that Baldoni and producer Jamey Heath “intentionally kept quiet” about Lively’s exposure to COVID in the on-set outbreak that led to her and her then-newborn child contracting the virus.

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