Blake DESTROYED !!
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Summary
Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively are back in court today, but no settlement has been reached. Will this case go to trial or will it go to summary judgment? Will the judge throw out the entire case or will he accept a settlement?
Transcript
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Life Insurance Company. She's saying that Ryan Reynolds ruined Blake Lively's retaliation claims.
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Hi and welcome to Flossom Talk. I'm Kersti Floor, journalist, Hollywood truth teller and your
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voice of reason in a town built on delusion. So as you know, yesterday there was a big meeting
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in court in New York. Justin Baldoni arrived with his wife. Jamie Heath was there with his wife.
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All the other defendants were there. I don't know who brought their partners with them,
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but I know for sure that Ryan Reynolds did not show up to support his wife, Blake Lively.
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We'll get into why he probably wasn't there. Also, as we now know, there was no resolution yesterday.
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No one agreed on anything. They spent six hours in the courthouse. According to reports,
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they were in separate rooms all the time. We don't even know if they actually met physically,
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if they saw each other. I can't even imagine what it would be like if Justin Baldoni had to go to the
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bathroom at the same time as Blake and they would just pass each other in the corridor. Can you
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imagine those looks? Anyways, I don't know if that happened or not, but we do know that there was no
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resolution. And Brian Friedman was interviewed outside the courthouse and he said this.
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Are you hopeful? Uh, am I hopeful about what? About how the case will proceed? So Brian,
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you guys didn't reach a settlement today? Not today. No. So tomorrow? No settlement reached it.
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Do you think those items are Friday? Or will this go to trial? We'll see.
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Are there still a chance of a settlement? There's always a chance. Is everyone required to come back
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tomorrow? Uh, it'll be on a different matter. But everyone will be back? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
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I don't know that we will. You think this will go to trial? Brian, do you think this will go to
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trial? I do. I'm looking forward to it. Yes, he is looking forward to trial. There is no reason for
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Justin Baldoni to settle at this time. It's only a couple of weeks away until the judge will rule
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on the summary judgment. And it's highly likely, according to a lot of attorneys that have
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listened to, that the judge will toss out the entire lawsuit from Blake Lively. If he doesn't
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do that, he will most definitely toss out a lot of her claims. And that makes Justin Baldoni's
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negotiation position here much stronger than Blake Lively's. I was watching some other attorneys
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yesterday talking about this and how these settlement meetings work and how it's the judge's job to go
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back and forth between these parties and tell them all the weaknesses of their cases. And we have to
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keep in mind that Blake Lively's attorneys probably know, most likely, they must know that her case is
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very weak. But they cannot tell her that because they took on her case saying that, yes, we will represent
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you. This is how we're going to win for you. So they can't really say to her now, well, it looks like we
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don't really have evidence. I'm sorry. You're not going to win this case. They can't do that. So they
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have to continue supporting Blake saying, you know, you have a mountain of evidence. So let's go to
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trial, which also means that they're going to make a lot more money. So I wouldn't trust my lawyers if I
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were Blake Lively at this point. Let's put it that way. So you might have noticed that Justin Baldoni was
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back in court today. He was there for another lawsuit. So there's also a parallel lawsuit here
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where Stephanie Jones, who owns Jones Work, the PR company that the Wayfair parties hired to do their
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promotion for It Ends With Us, she is suing Justin Baldoni and Jennifer Abel, her former publicist that used
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to be an employee. And they're suing her back. So today they are talking about a settlement in that
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case. So let's see if they can come up with any agreements. We're obviously not going to find out
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what they talked about because all of these meetings are super confidential. So if you wonder why Blake
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Lively didn't return to court today, that is the reason. We have to also keep in mind that they could
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settle at any time. They could continue these talks behind the scenes. They can settle two hours before
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the trial starts. It's never too late to settle, but I don't think it's going to happen. And now we
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know Brian Friedman is really looking forward to trial. And I actually think Justin Baldoni is too.
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It's of course going to also be a traumatic experience, but I think going to trial is going
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to be a lot more traumatic for Blake Lively because I don't know if she realizes how much personal
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information and intimate information we are going to learn about her and Ryan Reynolds throughout this
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trial. Remember all the stuff that came out in the Johnny Depp versus Amber Heard trial? I was
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floored to learn about some of the stuff that went on. And because Blake is accusing Justin Baldoni of
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S.H., the attorneys might look into her sexual history and ask her really intimate questions about
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her relationship to Ryan Reynolds. I don't think Ryan Reynolds wants that either. Anyways, I saw this
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Reddit post from another attorney who talked about why she thinks Ryan Reynolds didn't show up yesterday.
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And I believe she is right. She's saying that Ryan Reynolds ruined Blake Lively's retaliation claims
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because he went out so strongly against Justin, attacking him and trashing him to WME and Sony.
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That really weakens Blake Lively's claims. And on top of that, he was bullying Justin Baldoni in his Deadpool
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movie. He was bullying him in text messages. He made fun of him and the entire situation on so many occasions.
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Remember at the SNL 50 reunion when he was making fun of this entire situation? And that is something that
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has repeated itself throughout this entire year where we follow this lawsuit. And even now, when they arrive in the
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courtroom, when everyone left the courtroom, the questions that the journalists are asking, they're
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not treating Blake Lively as a victim here. And I think at the same time, everything that's going on
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with the e-files and all the victims there, it makes this case look so ridiculous. So as much as that is
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a distraction from this case, I also think it's not helping Blake Lively in any way. Because here she is
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with all this power and all she wants is just more money and more power. And these poor women who were
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victims of this horrific man and his whole network of other people, they're sitting in the back seats
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and they're not getting the respects that they deserve. I'm so upset about all of that. But anyway,
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so basically this attorney was saying that the reason why Ryan didn't show up yesterday is because it would
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bring too much attention to him and it would remind the public of what a bully he is. And that would
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not look good for Blake. I do agree with her that it wouldn't help Blake in any way to have Ryan there
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yesterday. It would only kind of help his image of being a supportive husband. But I think as this
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attorney suggested, that Blake Lively's attorneys probably told him to stay away. And that might be a
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reason for him to stay away during the entire trial as well. And also, I don't think Ryan wanted to be
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there. He looked very happy supporting his soccer team. And yesterday, a couple of hours after his wife
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exited the courtroom, he posted on Story about some guy who makes balloons who is a fan of his.
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This seems like a very nice man who makes balloons to make people happy. And he wants to bring joy and
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kindness into the world. And Ryan Reynolds is a fan. Again, Ryan is trying to be associated with
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kindness and joy. Yeah, we're not buying it. Why would you post something about balloons right now?
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It's so absurd. Anyways, to wrap that up, I don't think there will be any more settlement talks because
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nothing's in it for Baldoni. Talking about all the media coverage, this was quite funny. I noticed a
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story yesterday on Daily Mail, a story when Blake was storming out of court. It said Blake Lively
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storms out of Justin Baldoni's settlement talks after six hours of negotiation. When I looked at
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that article today, it said Blake Lively abruptly leaves court after six hours of negotiation with
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Justin Baldoni, who is seen smirking after they fail to reach a settlement. So it went from Blake
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Lively storming out, which seems like a good headline, you know, it's very clickable. So why did they
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change the headline into just the Blake Lively abruptly reads courts? And now Justin Baldoni is
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smirking? He wasn't smirking. Who did this? I tried to went into the time machine to see how they changed
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this article. And funny enough, the URL that is connected to this story is from another story they
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published yesterday. It's from this one. Blake and Justin arrive at court awkward. Justin Baldoni and
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Blake Lively arrive in near matching outfits as they begin their blockbuster court showdown. If anyone
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was serious about this allegation, they wouldn't call it a blockbuster showdown. Anyways, I can't find
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that article at all now. It's gone. But it's so ironic to me that in the middle of all of this, when Blake
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Lively is accusing Justin of a smear campaign, they're still changing titles and headlines for
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stories. I showed you this a few weeks ago when all that whole big unsealing happened. And we saw
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Leslie Sloan and how she worked, Blake Lively's publicist, how she was terrorizing and pressuring
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journalists to change titles and to take out content that didn't fit Blake's narrative,
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and also remove statements from Justin Baldoni's team in those articles so they would only support
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Blake. And they're still doing it. This is evidence of that. At least they didn't change the caption of
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this photograph when they're saying a grim-faced Blake Lively abruptly walked out of the settlement
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hearing. And then they said Baldoni looked relaxed as he strolled out five minutes later. He was seen with
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his wife, Emily. We know that Emily wasn't allowed in the courtroom. None of the wives,
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none of the non-defendants were actually allowed in the courtroom when all of these negotiations were
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going on. They had to sit in another room, but they chose to be there anyway. I just think it says a lot
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about their relationships with their husbands and, you know, in contrast to Ryan Reynolds, of course.
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The other inside information that we got from yesterday is that at 12 30 p.m., a cart loaded with
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chicken sandwiches and salads were seen being wheeled into one of the courtrooms, suggesting
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that both sides would continue working through lunch. I think a couple of the attorneys went out
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for fresh air for like two seconds, but apparently no one really left the rooms unless they had to go
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to the bathroom or something like that. So yeah, there's not really much to report from what happened
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inside that courtroom. Anyways, as I said yesterday, Ryan Reynolds has been pushing his soccer team,
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the Wrexham soccer team or football team in the UK, which he owns, and that's all he's been focusing
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on lately. He's been like pushing out content and reels and stories showing us that he is totally
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unbothered by all of this going on. And the only thing that matters for him is that his team will win.
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And the Mirror did a story on this today, actually. He was interviewed about this. I think it was five
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years since he bought this team, and maybe that's why he was there to celebrate, not escape from his
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wife. But anyways, Ryan is quoted here talking about his kids. That's also something that he does every
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time there is like some crisis going on or there's some scandal. He just gives interviews talking about
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his kids and trying to be funny, of course. And the Mirror is saying here that Ryan details the way he
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makes his kids cringe in public. He has opened up about how his love for Wrexham leaves his children
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impatient during family outings. It says here that Ryan Reynolds has confessed that his enthusiasm for
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the club can prove distracting during family moments, as trips out frequently turn into extended
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discussions with supporters. So everyone wants to talk to Ryan about his soccer team, obviously.
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Speaking to The Athletic, which is some magazine or just a newspaper that he did an interview with
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apparently, he said, I know I'm a football fan and a Wrexham lifer because I'm inconsolable when we lose.
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I've never been as invested in winning and losing before. Really? I don't think that's true. I think
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Ryan is all about winning. That's also why I think Blake will never settle this lawsuit, because Ryan is
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all about winning. He is not letting his wife settle anything. Anyways, he continues to say that
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I have to fly across the Atlantic when still awake and sober after a match and try to process that whole
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loss. That's a flight, seven hours long, and for some reason it takes 29 hours. He cannot deal with
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losing, obviously. He says, my kids get frustrated about it. If we are walking down the street, I'll get
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asked about Deadpool by someone. And it's usually just a two or three second conversation, basically
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saying, hi, if someone talks about Wrexham, I just turn right around and park it against the street
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pole. My kids are like, oh no. Interesting. He's trying to take a step away from Deadpool now and be
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like, hey, I'm just this soccer guy. Please forget about all the other things. I think on his Instagram, he
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doesn't even say in his profile that he's an actor. It's all about being an entrepreneur, about having
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this successful PR company, maximum effort, and owning Wrexham. I feel really sorry for their kids.
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It's hard for them to be in the middle of this. When your parents are doing stupid things,
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they can't help this. And I just hope that they get the support that they deserve, because what's going
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on here is just a big mess. And I don't see these people staying together. I have to say, I don't see
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a future with Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds being a married couple. Anyways, there is a story that's
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interesting today in Variety. And I've heard other attorneys talk about this, because I think this
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has been mentioned in Justin Baldoni's defense. So it says in Variety that 20 years after a friend's
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harassment suit was dismissed, Baldoni Lively case revisit limits of creative freedom. So there was
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a case filed 20 years ago from a writer that complained about what happened and what was said
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in the writer's room of the friend's sitcom. It says here that the last time this issue was explored
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so thoroughly, comparing this to Blake and Justin, because we know a lot of Blake's claims are focused
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on conversations that she and Justin had about this movie and about their characters. And she said
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that he brought too much of his own personal experiences into this. And that was, of course,
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about intimate things. And she didn't like it. And it made her feel uncomfortable.
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Here they're comparing this to another case. And it says the last time this issue was explored so
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thoroughly. In 2006, so that's 20 years ago, creative freedom won. The California Supreme Court threw
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out a suit involving graphic talk in the friend's writer's room. In that case, Hollywood united behind
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the friend's writers arguing that however offensive it might appear to outsiders, such speech was
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essential to the creative process. This is really important. And this is great for Justin Baldoni.
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It says here that the reaction to lively suit has been more divided, mostly along the lines of personal
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loyalty. But in his defense, Baldoni's lawyers have invoked the friend's president, arguing that some
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amount of sexual commentary is inherited in making a basically R-rated movie. And there's a comment here
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from the person who lost back then. And she says, I think in my case, if my case had arisen after the
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Me Too movement, there might have been a different outcome. Well, let's see. But I think this is a
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really valid argument. I think most of their arguments are really valid. But I think also this is another
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point of Blake Lively's claims that are really scaring Hollywood. If a director can't talk to their
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actors about sensitive subjects that is in the movie, and they can end up being sued if they cross
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that barrier or cross that line, that is really serious. So I'm sure Hollywood doesn't really want
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that. I guess Blake Lively could use Justin Baldoni and the Wayfair party's own policies against them
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because they had very strict rules about these things. But it also points out here that misconduct
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must be so severe or pervasive that it alters the conditions of employment. The California Supreme
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Court ruled that the friend's conduct did not reach that level. US District Judge Louis Lyman is
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applying the same test as he decides how much of Lively's case will go to a jury. So yeah, a lot of
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people think that he will toss out all her SH claims. And I don't understand how the retaliation can
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then survive if there wasn't any SH. Because there's nothing illegal even about smearing someone
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unless you're retaliating against them for standing up or for speaking up about SH or a toxic workplace.
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Anyways, that's it for me, you guys. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Thank you so much for watching.
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Thanks for subscribing. And if you haven't, please do and check if you've been unsubscribed. I keep saying
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notification bell so you never miss an episode, that will make me super happy. And yes, I'll see you very soon. Bye!