New evidence in the It Ends With Us-related legal battle arguably supports Blake Lively’s claims, according to her legal team. After months of rumors that Lively and Baldoni feuded on the set of It Ends With Us, Lively came forward in December with Sєxual harᴀssment claims. Her complaint was met with a countersuit from Baldoni’s team, which involved suing The New York Times for libel over the story they produced about the incident. Baldoni and his team also claim that Disney’s ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine directly and unfairly lampooned him through the character Nicepool.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Lively’s team is now saying that recent footage of It Ends With Us shows Baldoni is in the wrong. The legal team refers to the footage as “damning” and says that it backs up what Lively wrote in “Paragraph 48 of her complaint.” The clip, according to their description, shows Baldoni “repeatedly leaning in toward Ms. Lively, attempting to kiss her,” and talking out of character with her “with no discussion or consent in advance, and no intimacy coordinator present.” Check out the full explanation from the legal team below:

Every frame of the released footage corroborates, to the letter, what Ms. Lively described in Paragraph 48 of her Complaint.

[Baldoni was] repeatedly leaning in toward Ms. Lively, attempting to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face and mouth against her neck, flicking her lip with his thumb, caressing her, telling her how good she smells, and talking with her out of character, with no discussion or consent in advance, and no intimacy coordinator present.

The video shows Ms. Lively leaning away and repeatedly asking for the characters to just talk. Any woman who has been inappropriately touched in the workplace will recognize Ms. Lively’s discomfort. They will recognize her attempts at levity to try to deflect the unwanted touching. No woman should have to take defensive measures to avoid being touched by their employer without their consent.

[Releasing the video instead of showing it in court is] another example of an unethical attempt to manipulate the public [and] a continuation of their harᴀssment and retaliatory campaign.

What This Means For The Ongoing Legal Issues Between Baldoni & Lively

The Legal Teams Have Opposite Priorities

It is important to note that the footage itself was released by Baldoni’s team, not Lively’s. This footage was supposedly taken on May 23, 2023, in three takes from the same sequence. In addition to releasing the footage, Baldoni’s team made a statement that says the videos “clearly refute Ms. Lively’s characterization of his behavior.” They continued that “both actors are clearly behaving well within the scope of the scene and with mutual respect and professionalism.” The release did not make it clear whether there was footage cut from the video. The full statement can be found below:

The following videos captured on May 23, 2023 clearly refute Ms. Lively’s characterization of his behavior. The scene in question was designed to show the two characters falling in love and longing to be close to one another. Both actors are clearly behaving well within the scope of the scene and with mutual respect and professionalism.

Baldoni’s legal counsel also disagrees with the statement from Lively’s legal team that it was inappropriate for the It Ends With Us videos to be released publicly. In their eyes, “Justin and team have the right to defend themselves with the truth,” and showing this video was an attempt to defend that truth. Said legal counsel also said that this would not be the last video released to the public, referring to the unveiling of “the upcoming website containing all correspondence as well as relevant videos that directly quash her claims.” The legal team’s response can be found below:

[Our client] has nothing to hide. And this video, once more proves this. Justin and team have the right to defend themselves with the truth and this is what we will be continuing to show with the upcoming website containing all correspondence as well as relevant videos that directly quash her claims.”

Our Take On The New It Ends With Us Evidence

It Is Her Word Against His — About The Same Footage

Though the actual cases are far from settled, Baldoni and his team have effectively launched a public “he said, she said” campaign. They attempt to provide evidence so that people do not base their claims on Lively herself. However, with the two legal teams having opposite interpretations of the same evidence, it is hard for people to know what to think. Lively’s team’s upset at this footage being released publicly seems like justifiable anger, but this It Ends With Us case is still a tough one to understand given the extent of these claims.

Source: EW