By Andrew Dalton
A Texas crisis communications specialist has sued Blake Lively for defamation after the actor pulled him into her legal fight with co-star and director Justin Baldoni over their film, ìIt Ends With Us.î
Jed Wallace†and his company, Street Relations, filed the $7 million lawsuit in federal court in Texas. It says he had nothing to do with any campaign to harm Livelyis reputation as she alleged in a court filing.
Wallace is not among the defendants in Livelyis federal lawsuit against Baldoni, his production company and publicists, in which she alleges sexual and other harassment during the production and a campaign to smear her after it. The crisis specialist is named in the court papers and the New York Times story published on the day the series of legal battles began in December when Lively filed a complaint.†
Livelyis lawyers said in a statement that Wallaceis lawsuit ìis not just a publicity stunt.î
In a filing in Hays County, Texas, that seeks a deposition from Wallace, Lively alleges he was used by publicists working with Baldoni to weaponize ìa digital army around the country, including in New York and Los Angeles, to create, seed, manipulate, and advance disparaging content that appeared to be authentic on social media platforms and internet chat forums.î
Wallaceis lawsuit says neither he nor his company ìhad anything to do with the alleged sexual harassment, retaliation, failure to investigate or aiding and abetting the alleged harassment or alleged retaliation.î
It says the actoris Texas filing ìconceded that Lively has no facts supporting the allegations she made against Wallace and Street,î which is why she now seeks to investigate the extent of his conduct.
After Lively sued Baldoni, he filed his own federal lawsuit against her and her husband, ìDeadpoolî star Ryan Reynolds, accusing them of defamation and extortion and seeking at least $400 million in damages.
Baldoni had already sued The New York Times for libel, and his former publicist filed a lawsuit taking Livelyis side.†
Copyright 2025 Associated Press.†All rights reserved.
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