Justin Baldoni sues New York Times for $340m over Blake Lively allegations story

Justin Baldoni is suing the New York Times for US$250 million (S$340m) after the newspaper published Blake Lively's sexual harassment allegations.

The 37-year-old actress recently launched a lawsuit against her It Ends With Us director and co-star, accusing him of harassing her while making the romantic drama film — but Justin now hit back, accusing the New York Times of publishing Blake's "self-serving narrative".

The lawsuit reads: "The Times story relied almost entirely on Lively's unverified and self-serving narrative, lifting it nearly verbatim while disregarding an abundance of evidence that contradicted her claims and exposed her true motives."

Justin and his lawyers claim that Blake launched her lawsuit in an effort to "reshape her public persona" with "salacious, headline-grabbing allegations".

The lawsuit reads: "Lively's cynical abuse of sexual harassment allegations to assert unilateral control over every aspect of the production was both strategic and manipulative.

"Simultaneously, her public image suffered as a result of a series of high-profile blunders, which she tried to deflect by blaming Plaintiffs for the public's prying interest into the foibles of an A-list celebrity.

"This is nothing but an excuse. Fame is a double-edged sword, but Lively's tactics here are unconscionable."

Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokesperson for the New York Times, has revealed that the publication plans to "vigorously defend against the lawsuit".

Speaking to CNN, she explained: "The role of an independent news organisation is to follow the facts where they lead.

"Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article. 

"To date, Wayfarer Studios, Mr Baldoni, the other subjects of the article and their representatives have not pointed to a single error. We published their full statement in response to the allegations in the article as well."

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