Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s legal battle continues to play out, as the two sides stand firm when it comes to the accusations they’ve leveled against each other. Since the onset of the highly public dispute, others not directly involved in the situation have weighed in as well. One of the latest people to do so is Ari Emmanuel – the top executive of the talent agency WME, which dropped Baldoni in late 2024 and has retained both Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds. Emmanuel is specifically explaining his reason for both of those moves.
The Endeavor CEO didn’t hold back his feelings while being interviewed as part of a Freakonomics Radio Live show. Ari Emmanuel conveyed (via The Hollywood Reporter) support for Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds while speaking his piece. During the discussion, Emmanuel praised the celebrity couple and, from his point of view, “it’s not really fair” that the couple is facing multiple allegations from the It Ends with Us director and co-lead:
It is a fucked up, bad situation with what Bologna … Baldoni … whatever his name is … is doing. … Until I fired him. It’s not really fair. I’ve known Ryan and Blake for over a decade. They’re really incredible people. In Hollywood, they have been incredibly successful. People work with them, they’ve never had any bad mojo out there or treated people badly. They are charitable — we help them with their foundation — they’ve given tons of money away.
This matter began in earnest this past December when Blake Lively filed a legal complaint against Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios (his production company) and others. Lively accused Baldoni of committing sexual harassment amid production on IEWU, which he denied. The actress alleged that his team sought to launch a smear campaign against her. These allegations were laid out in a lengthy piece published by The New York Times. Lively eventually filed a lawsuit against Baldoni over the claims laid out in her complaint.
Around the time that Justin Baldoni denied the allegations, he was dropped from WME. The actor/director eventually filed a $250 million lawsuit against the NYT for alleged libel and more. Baldoni later filed a $400 lawsuit against his former co-star, Ryan Reynolds and others for alleged defamation, extortion and other offenses. When it comes to Baldoni’s supposed actions, Ari Emmanuel seemed to take issue with the notion of him working with others to damage the Age of Adaline actress’ reputation:
If what is alleged in her lawsuit [and] what happened on social media [in terms of Baldoni allegedly planting negative stories about the actress] is true, just because she complained to the studio that things were unhealthy on the set, and that he was director and this man [Jamey Heath] was the producer, and they did to her what is being alleged, they’re really bad people. I know Blake, I know Ryan, they’re good people.
The Endeavor CEO went on to say that he’s “ride or die” for the Lively/Reynolds family, and he finds it “disgusting” that the Jane the Virgin alum would allegedly retaliate against Lively for complaining to the studio about him. Also, during the discussion, the exec talked about the positive and negative aspects of social media use and how it reportedly played into this ongoing dispute:
Social media is a really good thing at times because it lets people, stars, connect with their fans, but [Baldoni and Heath] used it in an evil way — if that’s true. We just have to be cognizant that it [social media] can ruin people and they should no longer be out there intimidating people using social media now and trying to hurt them and abusing … them. [Baldoni’s team] should just stop, since they think they’re innocent, and let the process play itself out. [Lively and Reynolds] are good people that have been in the business for decades, and have never had any bad press about them, and all the people they work with like them. So if it’s true what they’re saying in that allegation, these are two bad guys.
While Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni haven’t gone to court just yet, their legal battle skirmish has apparently impacted them in other ways. For her part, Lively has reportedly seen a slight dip in her social media following, which an expert attributes, in part, to the uncertain status of her friendship with Taylor Swift during this time. (Swift was name-dropped in leaked messages shared by Baldoni’s camp.)
Just how long this situation persists remains to be seen and, in the meantime, legal experts are sharing their takes. One lawyer suggests that the situation is just going to “get nastier” as time goes on. The public will just have to wait and see if that proves to be true, but what’s very evident right now is that Ari Emmanuel is standing alongside Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and co.
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