Baldoni and his team saying the newspaper was party to a quote, '3vicious 4smear campaign', by Lively, who filed an earlier 5complaintaccusing Baldoni of sexual harassment on set and 6retaliation during the promotion of the film. It's just the latest salvo in an ongoing 7disputebetween the two actors that 8erupted during production of the movie, in which Baldoni plays Lively's on-screen 9abusive husband.
The complaint filed by Baldoni and a total of 10 10plaintiffs, including his producing partners and publicist, states, 'the Times relied almost entirely on Lively's 11unverified and 12self-serving narrative, lifting it nearly 13verbatim while disregarding an 14abundance of evidence.' Lively's original complaint was filed with the California Civil Rights Department almost two weeks ago and was first obtained by the New York Times. It alleges Baldoni and his team tried to destroy Lively's reputation after she raised concerns about 'repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior by Mr. Baldoni'.
The Times published their article December 21st, highlighting excerpts from the civil rights complaint, including text messages from a crisis PR manager for Baldoni that say, quote, ¡®We Can Bury Anyone¡¯.
The New York Times telling CNN they will, quote, '15vigorously defend against the lawsuit,' saying 'our story was 16meticulously and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails'.
"And 17vetting the 18allegations and reviewing the material, that's where they ended up. But I think it's going to take a little while to determine and see exactly where all this falls because there's a lot of conflicting claims. But that's what 19litigation is for."
